'Nervous' Sahin pleased with debut

Nuri Sahin enjoyed his Real Madrid bow in the 7-1 thrashing of Osasuna yesterday but admitted he had been nervous prior to coming on. The Turkish midfielder's debut for Real was delayed by a knee injury, having signed for the club in the summer from Borussia Dortmund, but he appeared to a rapturous reception as a second-half substitute. Sahin, who was a key figure in Dortmund's Bundesliga title success last season, told the club's website: "It's been a great day for me. I wish to thank everyone at the Santiago Bernabeu, my team-mates, the manager and the president. I must now work hard to be able to help the team. "I'm very happy for playing my first game with Real Madrid. It's been difficult being injured. I was a little nervous before coming on because it was my first match before the fans. "I felt confident and happy after a couple of minutes. We must continue to work hard because we will face difficult games after the league break." Real extended their lead at the top of La Liga to three points after their crushing win was coupled with Barcelona dropping points in a 2-2 draw at Athletic Bilbao later in the day. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick, Karim Benzema netted twice and Pepe and Gonzalo Higuain were also on target in the rout of Osasuna. The one negative note was the injury sustained by Angel Di Maria. The Argentina winger was forced off with what the club described yesterday as a hamstring injury, having set up all three of Real's first-half goals.