Spanish media lashes out at La Roja after embarassing defeat to Netherlands

A dejected Iker Casillas after Robin van Persie scored his second goal

Madrid, June 14: The Spanish media blasted the national team for its pathetic display in the 1-5 loss to the Netherlands in the World Cup opener Friday in Salvador, Brazil.

Leading Spanish sports daily Marca's header Saturday morning screamed 'Spain destroyed by Dutch in opener', reports EFE.

The paper was critical of the World Champion's performance and said: "La Roja were overrun by a hungry Dutch side that got braces from Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben, plus a goal from Stefan de Vriji. This is putting the reigning World Cup champions in a very difficult position to advance to the second round."

Another daily AS's headline read "The world champion's worst nightmare" and it held goalkeeper Iker Casillas, a World Cup winning captain, responsible for the debacle.

"The player who had protected us for the past six years, through talent and luck, left us high and dry," the paper said.

"The most worrying thing is that we do not know if this will merely be a bad night, or a bad summer," it added.

The Sport said: "The rampant Dutch, inspired by Robben, shocked the current world champions."

Sport also reported the game as "embarrassing" for Spain.

Spain are now at the bottom of Group B along with Australia that was also defeated 3-1 Friday by Chile, which shares the top place with Holland.