Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho believes that a referee's blunder led to his team's elimination from the World Cup, but has admitted that Spain were the better team on Tuesday.

Speaking after the 1-0 loss to Iberian neighbours Spain, Carvalho said David Villa's goal, which led to the Portuguese being knocked out of the competition, was an "offside" effort.

"I saw the TV replay, Villa was clearly offside, but the linesman on the opposite side didn't raise his flag so you can't blame Villa for using the opportunity to score," said Carvalho.

He added: "I think the linesman was in doubt though as Villa was just marginally offside. But having said that, I think Spain maybe deserved their win as they created more opportunities than us.

"We defended well in the game, but Spain had more possession and opportunities to score. In this competition you need to defend well and also create chances to score. We were using counter-attacking football and it didn't work out."

Carvalho said they tried to change their system and to impose themselves more on the game, but everything they attempted on the day didn?t work out for them.

"We lost the ball at frequent times and thereby giving Spain more possession on the ball and in the end that worked against us," explained the Chelsea defender.

Carvalho also rued the missed chances Portugal had in the game.

"We had one or two opportunities in the first half, but we failed to capitalise on them and in the end we paid dearly for that," concluded Carvalho.

By Khaya Ndubane