Benitez laments painful result, while Suarez offers his sympathy

Barcelona striker Luis Suarez had no such problems, however, labelling the scoreline a consequence of a string of coincidences.

Taking charge of the biggest fixture in club football for the first time, Benitez suffered a baptism of fire that leaves him in a precarious position only three months into his debut season.

In an ominous sign for the former Valencia, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Napoli manager, angry fans at the Bernabeu roundly whistled their own players and chanted for president Florentino Perez to step down as champions Barca surged six points clear of second-placed Real after 12 matches.

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Barca were utterly dominant and already three goals to the good when Barca coach Luis Enrique brought on a fit-again Lionel Messi after an hour and the Argentina captain promptly sent Luis Suarez clear to score his second and Barca's fourth, and the Spanish and European champions could easily have added to their tally in the closing stages.

"Of course it hurts, it hurts a lot to lose like this," said a chastened Benitez, who took over from Carlo Ancelotti at the end of last season.

"What we have to do now is stay united," he added.

"It wasn't a question of attitude. We were up against a very good side and we paid for our mistakes."

Benitez said his idea was for his players to try to pressure Barca and keep the ball.

A turning point in the game was a chance that fell to Marcelo at the start of the second half which could have made it 2-1 and put Real firmly back in the game, he added.

The Brazil full-back skipped through on the left but his shot hit the side netting and Barca made it 3-0 moments later when Iniesta struck.

"Now's not the time to assess individuals," Benitez said.

"We have to reflect on what happened and stay united. We made mistakes and we paid for them against a very good team."

One of the chief architects of Real's defeat was Suarez - but rather than gloat, the Uruguyan insisted that Barcelona’s 4-0 victory “was a cluster of many coincidences”.

The Uruguayan scored twice in a memorable win against the old enemy at the Santiago Bernabeu, which moved his side six points clear at the top of La Liga, but he dismissed the notion that the result reflected the gap between the two sides after the game.

“We didn’t expect to win 4-0,” he said.

“We always said it would be a tough game, but we did a very thorough job from the first minute."

When asked if the result reflected the gap between the two sides, he gave an emphatic answer: "No. It was a cluster of many coincidences. Madrid are one of the best teams in the world, but we took advantage of their mistakes... We’re six points clear, but the season’s very long and Madrid are a great team.”

Suarez added that had no issues with not getting a hat-trick: "There were opportunities to score again, but I didn’t have any special interest in scoring our fifth goal," he said, before saying how happy he was to see Lionel Messi back in the side.

“Leo is more than happy to wear the club’s jersey again, for the game and victory that the team earned."