Defender Sergio Ramos insisted after the 3-0 Confederations Cup final loss to Brazil that the Spanish players are not robots.
“We had to lose one day. We are not robots and sometimes things just don’t go for you, which is what happened to us from the first minute,” the Real Madrid man told reporters.
“They got an early goal and then sat back, although we must congratulate Brazil because they showed they know how to play against Spain.”
Ramos was the surprising choice to step up and take a 55th minute a penalty awarded to Spain, despite players such as Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres being on the pitch. His subsequent miss had many questioning the decision, yet the 27-year-old insisted he felt confident of scoring.
“As I said, sometimes things just don’t go your way, but I felt confident. I waited until the last second to see where the goalkeeper would dive and tried to put the ball into the bottom corner, but it went wide.
“It’s one of those things that happens in football and you can’t always come out winning,” maintained Ramos, who refused to blame tiredness for the defeat.
“When you lose it’s possible different conclusions are drawn as opposed to when you win, and it’s reasonable to believe that we were tired physically. But Brazil also had a difficult match the day before our semi-final and they recovered better than we did and played better football.
“We’ve achieved a lot of great things and one day the moment arrives when you don’t win.
“However, our consciences are clear because we gave the best we could.”
