Queiroz accepts blame for heavy Real defeat

Carlos Queiroz accepted a measure of blame for Real Madrid's 4-1 defeat by Sevilla on Sunday, after his tactical gamble failed in spectacular style.

"We're all responsible for this result, starting with me," Queiroz told reporters after the game.

"We all made mistakes. I wasn't disappointed with the players, though, because they did what they could."

In the absence of the suspended Michel Salgado and the injured Roberto Carlos, Queiroz chose to move both his regular centre-backs out to the wings and bring in the inexperienced Ruben to partner Ivan Helguera in the centre.

The Portuguese boss was then forced to watch in disbelief as his side self-destructed in the opening 15 minutes.

Ruben's headed clearance struck the back of Helguera and rebounded past Iker Casillas to provide the first goal after four minutes.

If that was an unfortunate start, Real only had themselves to blame as they went in at the interval 4-0 down.

Dario Silva converted the second after seven minutes and Daniel Alves added the third, still with only 14 minutes gone, by lifting the ball over Casillas after an exchange of passes with Antonito.

The likes of Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham were left shaking their heads as the third goal went in, while Casillas exchanged heated words with midfielder Guti.

"We were nervous to start with," Queiroz said. "We didn't have to win the game in the first few minutes but we shouldn't have lost it."

Queiroz appeared to recognise a selection error when he replaced Ruben with Santiago Solari but worse was to follow when Javi Casquero smacked in a fourth goal after Reyes had stolen the ball from Pavon.

Real improved in the second half but Ronaldo's cracking drive 10 minutes after the break failed to spark a comeback.

"We were unlucky in defence and that was matched in attack," Queiroz said. "We could easily have scored more goals. The scoreline at the end was a bit heavy."