Pellegrino: Players, staff responsible for thrashing

Valencia coach Mauricio Pellegrino blamed himself and his players as they suffered a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Malaga on Saturday.

Goals from Francisco Portillo, Javier Saviola, Roque Santa Cruz and midfielder Isco gave Malaga a comfortable victory over Valencia and moved them up to fourth place in La Liga.

Valencia had ensured qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League with a draw against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, but the players could not replicate that form on Saturday, leaving their coach furious at the performance.

“I feel very surprised and responsible,” Pellegrino said.

“We cannot hide from our performance today, we played a terrible game.

“No one expected us to play that badly in such an important match against a team we consider a direct rival.”

“We have to take responsibility, myself and the players. We made many mistakes in possession.

“Malaga were much better, we were not in the game from beginning to end.”

The defeats leaves Valencia in 11th place, four points behind fourth-placed Malaga.

Pellegrini’s men have an opportunity to make amends for their heavy defeat when they play Llagostera in the Copa del Rey on Thursday.