Valencia happy to hit form

Paco Alcácer scored one and Fede Cartabia added two more to put Valencia CF three up against FC St Gallen inside 30 minutes on Thursday, and after the ensuing 5-1 victory that moved them within a point of Group A leaders Swansea City AFC, the pair stated their UEFA Europa League ambitions. Matías Vitkieviez, whose St Gallen team fell three points behind the second-placed Spanish side, admitted: "They killed us today."

Fede Cartabia, Valencia midfielder
I'm happy about my performance but most of all I'm happy for the team and delighted with the victory. We lost our last Liga match against Real Sociedad, unfairly in my opinion, but now we have given joy to our fans. We are very happy.

Yes, we had a great first half, but armed with a 4-0 lead in the second half we relaxed and this shouldn't happen again. Valencia are a great team and we want to go to every stadium to win. In this competition we are rated among the favourites and we will keep trying to succeed.

Paco Alcácer, Valencia forward
Valencia have to get three points in every game. Tonight the team looked comfortable and we played with personality. We played as we know how, with many quality players operating between the offensive lines, looking to make that final pass.

We must carry on like this – on the pitch as well as in training. I don't think about my performance tonight, I just think about the team who were great. We must continue in this way.

Matías Vitkieviez, St Gallen midfielder
We barely touched the ball from the first minute: they began to move it and we didn't see it the whole game. They killed us today while we played our worst game of the season. It was a game where we were always one or two seconds behind the play and against a side like Valencia you can't afford that. The disappointment tonight is that we watched them playing for the whole match and it seems we didn't try to play our game.

When you're losing 4-0 at half-time ... well, the coach told us to keep trying, but when you see them controlling play that way, it's difficult. I have the feeling we didn't play our game. Every match from here is decisive: we have to win all our games so we don't say goodbye to the competition. We have to correct our mistakes.

Roberto Rodriguez, St Gallen forward
It was a very tough loss and we are very down. We knew Valencia have a great team and play very good football. They showed their quality. We tried to play our game, but tonight Valencia were at a high level.

In our stadium [on 7 November] it will be another game, with our fans behind us. We want to show we can play another type of football and we will go out to attack.