Llorente: Spain´s ´night to forget´

Spain forward Fernando Llorente has dubbed the World Cup winners’ performance against Portugal on Wednesday as ‘awful’.

The Athletic Bilbao striker was a second-half substitute in Portugal’s 4-0 friendly hammering of their Iberian rivals.

The two countries have compiled a joint bid in an attempt to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and used the match as a chance to promote their chances.

The match itself was utterly one-sided, with strikes to Carlos Martins, Helder Postiga, Hugo Almeida and an own goal from Sergio Ramos sealing the rout.

“It was a night to forget,” Llorente told AS on Thursday.

“We’ve been awful in every respect. We didn’t play the game in the way we needed to.”

“Portugal played with a lot of intensity and it wasn’t our day. It’s a pity. We’ve been slack and that cannot happen again. This hurts inside and we need to avoid it.”

Fellow Spaniard Santi Cazorla was not so downbeat despite the disappointing performance.

“Every game is important and nobody likes to lose,” the Villarreal winger said.

“There’s a mixture of disappointment and sadness, but we need to look on the positive side and try to improve.”

“There are games which don’t go as you want, but when Spain lose it seems a little worse. The fans are used to seeing Spain win. We hope to improve in the future.”