Spain Coach Vicente Del Bosque was critical of his team’s poor performance in their 4-0 defeat to Iberian rivals Portugal in an international friendly at Estadio da Luz on Wednesday.
Goals from Jorge Carlos Martins, Helder Postiga and Hugo Almeida, as well as an own goal from Sergio Ramos completed a miserable rout for the world and European champions.
The defeat is the heaviest Spain have suffered since 1963 and is the second defeat they have endured in a friendly in recent months, losing 4-1 to Argentina back in September.
“Spain did not play as well as Portugal and were very lazy. We have no excuse because we gave them many chances,” Del Bosque told Marca after the game.
“We could not have played any worse today and I am upset because it was an important game.
“We had a very weak second half and I have to recognise that Portugal have been better than us.
“We have no excuses. I’m very upset because it was an important game and it hasn’t been our day.
“We had good intentions, but the reality is we haven’t been good either on the pitch or on the bench.”
In contrast, the Portuguese put on their best performance in some time and are improving under coach Paulo Bento, who took charge in September after Carlos Queiroz was sacked.
“We wanted to win, but could never have predicted a result like this against a team with Spain’s dimension. The way we played had a lot of positives. The win does not bring points, but it does earn us prestige,” Bento said afterwards.
Spain have a four month break until their next game when they will entertain Czech Republic in a crucial Euro 2012 qualifer.
