Valencia coach Baraja defends players after defeat at Getafe

Valencia coach Ruben Baraja defended his players after defeat at Getafe on Friday night.

Los Che lost 1-0 via Borja Mayoral's late winner for Getafe. Valencia had Gabriel Paulista and Javi Guerra sent off on the night.

Baraja said: We were intense and consistent, and even with 10 men, we defended well. Getafe are a pressing side, they have a lot of second balls and they took their chance. Going down to 10 men hindered us. We have to defend those crosses better.

Getafe weren't overwhelming us, they weren't shooting much. Many times you struggle when you bring a player on if he isn't in the rhythm of the game... I think we were defending well when a man down and the goal was from a specific action. We were in a 4-4-1 and we had to make a change to our centre-backs.

"The two fullbacks were fine, (Dimitri) Foulquier was physically fit today, Diego was a little more tired in the final stages and then Hugo Duro was able to give us a boost by going on the counter. We considered that the team were doing fine. We didn't need to freshen things up. Everyone has their own opinion. There are things we have to improve."

On the sendings-off, Baraja added: "I prefer not to say anything. There are things that I cannot understand, but I prefer to remain silent."