Javi Garcia Pimienta was sacked this weekend after defeat to Valencia and replaced by veteran coach Caparros.

Orta said, "This season we have had some real misfortunes with injuries to our winter signings , a lot of bad luck, and one of the objectives that the president and the board had set me was to rejuvenate the team and reduce the budget, which was practically 50%, and improve on last year's results."

Then he admitted: "I feel the frustration of having been so close to Europe and now being away from it. We all have in mind the games where it could have happened, and I think that, overall, we have to acknowledge a lot of the mistakes that I made.

"But I also followed the guidelines set by the Board to try to improve."

He then doubled down, revealing a background to the transfer market: "This team has not yet reached its limit. There are players who are progressing.

"We received offers of 80 or 90 million euros in January. There are players who are growing, and the new coach made me notice this."