Continental Europe team captain Thomas Bjorn played down concerns about Robert Karlsson's health after the Swede sank to a big defeat on day one at the Vivendi Trophy on Thursday.

Karlsson and his playing partner Henrik Stenson were surprisingly beaten 6 and 5 by Great Britain and Ireland's Anthony Wall and Chris Wood in the first fourball match of the tournament.

It was Karlsson's first experience of competitive golf since a four-month spell on the sidelines due to a blister behind the retina in his left eye.

The 40-year-old, the European Order of Merit winner in 2008, looked below par but Bjorn said the world number 22 was suffering from nothing more than an off-day.

"To be fair to Robert, he can obviously play a lot better than he did, but he didn't play all that bad," said the Dane.

"That's the way it is. I've said it to all of them, you can't expect all ten to play their best golf when they come in here. You've got to go with what you've got."

However Wall, who helped his side to a 3-2 lead after the opening day, felt that Karlsson had clearly been affected by his spell on the sidelines.

"I didn't think he was 100 percent, I have to be honest," said Wall.

"It was more than just rust. Hopefully he's getting better, because Europe needs him and the European Tour needs him. He's a great guy and a super player."

Speaking on the eve of the tournament, Karlsson insisted that the time away from the sport had done him good and that there would be no long-term consequences from his eye problem.

"If I really look from one eye to the other, I can see a slight difference," he said.

"But playing-wise, when I looked at the ball in the bunker before, the sand was almost moving, everything became very shady and it was the same on the greens - I couldn't pick out one blade of grass.

"But there's absolutely nothing of that (now). So for playing golf, I cannot see any difference whatsoever at the moment."