Spain had night to forget - Fabregas

Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas failed to find any positives from his side's friendly encounter against Portugal after the world champions crashed to a comprehensive 4-0 defeat in Lisbon.

Jorge Carlos Martins fired the Portuguese ahead on the stroke of half-time before second-half goals from Helder Postiga, Spain defender Sergio Ramos, who put through his own goal, and substitute Hugo Almeida sealed a deserved win for the hosts.

The victory allowed Portugal to gain a measure of revenge for their World Cup exit at the hands of the Spanish, having lost 1-0 at the last-16 stage, and saw new coach Paulo Bento earn his third successive win since he replaced Carlos Queiroz in September.

For Spain, it was the second heavy friendly defeat in the space of two months following their 4-1 loss against Argentina, and Fabregas, who replaced Xavi at half-time, admits it was a night to forget.

"We're hurt. It's been a big scoreline but we have to lift ourselves. We wanted to finish the year well but now we have to wait until February," the Arsenal playmaker told Spanish television channel TVE.

"It's not been our best game but you also have to know how to lose.

"The truth is it's a match where we can't take anything positive. They played better than us, they had a lot of desire...."

Fabregas. who also feels that many of the Spain squad are still trying to get back to peak fitness following their heroics in South Africa this summer, added: "Now we need to apologise to the fans and continue forward."

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque admitted: "We couldn't have played any worse than today.

"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 today we haven't been good either on the pitch or on the bench."

u00a0