The 1-0 home loss, which also saw Vitor Roque sent off, saw Betis win the playoff 3-1 on aggregate. Pellegrini says he couldn't fault the players' efforts on the night.
The match:
"We certainly had no intention of playing with the result from there. The team went out to fight for the game and had chances to take the lead and they scored a great goal without Vieites having saved a single ball in the entire game and this made us lose. We were already one man down. The team responded, but you have to take the results into account. We wanted to win and we lost."
Will Vitor Roque stay?
"I can't confirm Vitor Roque or any of those who have left. We have to support him, he is part of the squad and will continue to have our confidence. I haven't seen the expulsion. He tried to go for his goal with excessive anxiety. He had three one-on-one situations that he couldn't convert. He is going through a moment of uncertainty and we have to try to support him."
Cedric Bakambu's last-minute absence:
"Yesterday he had a problem with his toe. He didn't feel 100% confident. He tried to warm up but we thought it was better for him not to play."
Can the defeat affect the weekend?
"No, we hope not. We wanted to win. It would have affected us more if we hadn't gone out to win from the start, but that wasn't the team's attitude. We should have taken advantage of our chances earlier to win. It's a bitter pill to swallow because we wanted to win in front of our fans at home."
"It doesn't matter to me which one we get. Each one has its own characteristics. One was first and the other second. The main thing is to look for the games and if we want to have a chance of staying up we have to try to beat the opponent we get."