James Rodriguez: 'Having 10 men made it hard to qualify'

Porto attacking midfielder James Rodriguez has admitted that being reduced to 10 men in the Champions League second leg against Malaga was the reason for his side's failure to reach the quarter-finals.

Steven Defour was sent off early in the second half as Malaga came back from 1-0 down to win the second leg 2-0.

"I admit that Malaga are worthy winners but the fact that we only had 10 men from about the hour mark onwards definitely made things more difficult," UEFA.com quotes Rodriguez as saying.

"The match was already very tight but when Malaga had a man advantage they noticeably thrived. That was our undoing.

"We already knew that Malaga were a good team and one who could play quality football. We were full of optimism about going through to the next round and we're all sad to be knocked out."

Rodriguez scored one goal in the Champions League this season.