Del Bosque dismayed at Real's Santander performance

Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque said his team's 2-0 defeat at Racing Santander was their worst performance since he took over at the club three years ago.

"Racing didn't surprise me at all but what did was the way we played," Del Bosque told reporters. "It was our worst game since I became coach.
Real were outplayed from the start by an ambitious Racing whose plans to force the European champions on to the back foot by depriving them of the ball paid dividends."

Uruguayan international Mario Regueiro, who was outstanding throughout, opened with a fine first-time shot on 41 minutes after good work by French midfielder Mehdi Nafti.

Shortly after the break Pedro Munitis, who spent most of last season on the bench at Real and is now on loan at Racing, added the second with a deftly-taken chip and the Cantabrians could have gone even further ahead if they had converted some of their late chances.

Ronaldo, playing his first full 90 minutes for his new club, barely had a sniff of the ball and Zinedine Zidane had a quiet game as Real hardly threatened the Racing goal.

"We suffered throughout and never got control of the game," said Del Bosque, whose side were missing the injured Luis Figo and Raul.

"There are no excuses for our performance and bemoaning the absence of certain players is certainly not enough to explain the way we played."

The result underlined Real's poor away form in the league and means that Del Bosque's side have not recorded a win outside the Bernabeu since they beat Sevilla at the end of March.

Real, who top their group in the Champions League, host AEK Athens at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.