Queiroz shares blame for Real rout
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Sevilla's Alves strtetches to tackle Madrid's Ronaldo.
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MADRID, Spain -- Coach Carlos Queiroz accepts his share of the blame for Real Madrid's 4-1 rout by Sevilla in Spain's Primera Liga on Sunday, after his tactical gamble failed in spectacular style.
"We're all responsible for this result, starting with me. We all made mistakes. I wasn't disappointed with the players, though, because they did what they could," said Queiroz who re-shuffled his defense in the absence of suspended Michel Salgado and injured Roberto Carlos.
Queiroz chose to move both his regular center-backs out to the flanks and bring in the inexperienced Ruben to partner Ivan Helguera at the heart of his defense.
The Portuguese coach was then forced to watch in disbelief as is side self-destructed in the opening 15 minutes.
Ruben's headed clearance struck the back of Helguera and ebounded 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."
Atletico Madrid claimed their fifth straight league win, 1-0 at home to Villarreal, to climb to fourth in the table. Alvaro Novo broke the deadlock after a smart exchange of passes with Demis Nikolaidis.
Real Mallorca striker Fernando Correa scored twice as his side beat Murcia 4-1 for only their third league win of the season. Gonzalo Colsa and Samuel Eto'o were also on target, while David Karanka scored Murcia's goal.
Malaga won 1-0 at Albacete on Salva Ballesta's 63rd-minute volley while Osasuna and Valladolid drew 1-1.
New leaders Deportivo hold on to first place following their 2-1 win over Real Sociedad on Saturday.
