England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson condemned the behaviour of home fans who directed racist chants at visiting black players during his side's 1-0 defeat by Spain at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

"When things like this happen something should be done, but I think it's a matter for the footballing authorities," Eriksson said.

"I'm sorry to say that before and during the game the issue of racism has been so important. I lived with it when I was coach at Lazio when fans behaved as they did tonight and we tried to deal with it.

"I'm really against it and this sort of thing should not be happening in 2004. In England I think we are better at dealing with this than in other countries."

Spain coach Luis Aragones refused to comment on the chanting by the crowd, saying he was only prepared to answer questions on his team's slick performance.

"I've always said my conscience is clear and I only want to talk about football," he said.

ARAGONES REMARKS

The run up to the match was marked by controversy involving Aragones, who mounted an angry defence of his recent comments about Thierry Henry in which he had referred to the Arsenal and France striker as "that black shit" during a Spanish training session last month.

Before the game the two teams lined up behind a banner bearing the slogan "All united against racism in football", but large sections of the 50,000 crowd at the Bernabeu responded with racist chants and monkey noises directed at England's black players during the match.

"I think we should try and put ourselves in the player's position," said Eriksson.

"Things like this should not happen and it certainly doesn't help the players. There must be some sort of protest."

England captain David Beckham said he was deeply disappointed by the behaviour of the fans at his home stadium.

"I was surprised because I've never heard it before when playing here. But I think it is something that the FA and world football are trying to cut out," the Real Madrid midfielder told reporters.

"When it happens in football all around the world of course you feel ashamed...it wasn't good tonight, but as I say people are working hard to cut it out.

"The players have had this before and they just get on with the game and they are strong enough to handle this."