“Debacle.” “Terrible.” “A resounding failure.” No, not the words of an enraged media ready to sink the knife into their backs, these are in fact the words of Spain’s players themselves as they reflected on a night that Xavi and Iker Casillas described as the worst of their careers. A 5-1 hammering by Holland. In a solitary match, Spain conceded more goals than they had done at the past two tournaments combined. It was time to beg forgiveness and to forget.

On Wednesday, the world champions face Chile and, said Xavi, it is now a matter of “life or death”. The good news, Spain’s players agreed, was that this defeat may not yet prove decisive. After all, they lost their opening game four years ago too. That, though, was the only good news in Salvador and in their talk of reflection and discussion there was a hint of deeper issues left to resolve. “This hurts; it hurts a lot,” Gerard Piqué said.

The message was a collective one, at least publicly. “This is not the time to look for guilty parties,” Vicente Del Bosque had said but some of his players did blame individuals.

They blamed themselves. Iker Casillas began his response by announcing: “The first thing I have to do is offer a mea culpa. This is the worst performance of my career. We have to say sorry. Holland were very good, we were the complete opposite. Sometimes it’s good for things like this to happen so that you can react but we have to react now.”

Sergio Ramos agreed. “We have to look at ourselves, starting with me. I should have played much better,” he said. “This is not a day to point the finger or blame any one in particular. It’s good to talk but today wasn’t really the time. We have days ahead to talk and train. We can’t allow ourselves to get infected by the negative energy. We must not blame anyone in particular. We’re still more than alive.” Xavi added: “We all played badly and we have to be self-critical to improve.”

Xabi Alonso described Spain’s heaviest World Cup defeat in 64 years, the third worst of their entire history, as a “terrible blow.” As for Xavi, he was momentarily lost for words. “This is the hardest game ... ,” he said, seeking a way to adequately express just how painful it had been. Eventually, he continued. “This is the hardest night of our footballing careers. It was a bad game, really bad. We have to react now. We did everything badly. It was a debacle. This is the worst defeat of my career. It is difficult because this was a resounding failure.”

Only Fernando Torres did not concur. Asked if this was the saddest night of his international career, the Chelsea striker said: “No, not the saddest. No. I have been knocked out of the [2004] European Championship in the group phase with Spain and out of the [2006] World Cup at the last 16. There is no excuse: they were better than us. That’s to their credit as well a result of our failings. This is just one game. And, unfortunately, we have the experience of having lost the opening game four years ago too.”

In Spain they refer to it as a burning nail. And that was the burning nail to which the Spanish players desperately clung.

“This is a complicated moment: we have to reflect, we all have to look at ourselves, but we know that it is possible still,” Alonso said.

“We have to speak among ourselves and hopefully all our good intentions will be reflected on the pitch. It cannot just be words. It is a terrible blow but fortunately we have another chance to turn it round. The game against Chile is a final for us now.”

“I would ask the fans to support us on Wednesday,” Xavi said. “This is life or death. There is a lot at stake. We could be heading home.”