Beleaguered Rayo Vallecano coach Paco Jemez mounted a defence of his players and claimed the "weird" 10-2 loss at Real Madrid was damaging for Spanish football.

Paco's side responded positively to Danilo's third-minute opener by taking a 2-1 lead through headers from Antonio Amaya and Jozabed.

Their good work was largely undone when Tito was sent off for a rash lunge on Toni Kroos and Gareth Bale made it 2-2 after 26 minutes.

Raul Baena was then harshly handed a second yellow card for fouling Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first of his two goals from the penalty spot and a procession ensued – Bale and Karim Benzema scoring four and three respectively.

"It's a long time since I've seen anything so weird and so embarrassing," an emotional Paco said at his post-match news conference.

"It doesn't benefit Madrid, us or Spanish football. When something like this happens, nobody wins.

"We feel humiliated but we feel good, despite what happened. My players made a great effort despite everything.

"We feel stepped on, played with by them.

"Maybe some Madrid fans enjoyed themselves. The majority of people won't like this. It shouldn't happen anywhere – it felt like a bad dream.

"My players are professionals who have dedicated years of their lives to this – for strange circumstances and something abnormal."

Paco revealed that some of his players shed tears in the dressing room afterwards and he struggled to hide his anger towards referee Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva regarding the double sending off.

"I will not talk about him [Villanueva]," he said. "What did he do wrong? Everything.

"Tito went for the ball – I will not give out blame to him. In the circumstances of the game the referee thought it was a red.

"The penalty finished the game. Even if it was not scored we'd have two players less. The game was ugly after that.

"Maybe Madrid would have come back anyway [without the penalty] but the game could have been much nicer for everyone.

Paco concluded his media briefing by sarcastically adding: "Happy Christmas to everyone – including the referee."