Madrid, Dec 2 (IANS): Spanish La Liga club Valencia has sacked coach Mauricio Pellegrino.

Pellegrino was sacked shortly after his side's 5-2 thrashing at home to Real Sociedad Saturday, a result that came on the back of a 0-4 defeat away to Malaga just a week ago, reports Xinhua.

The former Valencia defender had been in charge for 14 league matches since replacing Unai Emery at the end of last season, leading his side to five wins, three draws and six defeats.

The defeat leaves Valencia in 12th place in the league table with 18 points, a poor return for the side which finished third behind Barcelona and Real Madrid under Emery in the past three seasons.

Valencia has qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League but the chorus of boos against the coach and club President Manuel Llorente following Saturday's defeat clearly influenced Llorente into taking a rapid decision.

The Argentinean is the second coach to be sacked in La Liga this season after last week's dismissal of Mauricio Pochettino by Espanyol.

Ironically, Pellegrino is sacked just a week after Emery was sacked from his new job with Spartak Moscow.