MADRID, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said he had failed his players after his side was knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Sevilla.

    Although Barcelona won 1-0 in Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on Wednesday night thanks to a goal from Xavi Hernandez, the two away goals Sevilla scored a week earlier in their 2-1 triumph in the Camp Nou was enough to see the Andaluian side into the quarterfinals at the expense of the reigning Cup holders.

    Xavi scored after 64 minutes, but the efforts of Sevilla keeper Andres Palop kept his side in the tie, although Guardiola saw the defeat as his fault.

    "When you work hard there is not a lot you can say, but I have the feeling that I let the team down. I didn't see the reasons why we didn't get through. I will try and correct it so that we can be the team we were before," said Guardiola in sports paper Diario ASon Thursday morning.

    Barcelona has a packed fixture calendar and losing in the copa will allow Guardiola's men to rest ahead of the return to Champions League action in February.

    However, Guardiola didn't see it that way.

    "It hurts to go and it is not good news. It is never good to be knocked out of a competition. We had a good spell in the first half and played well in the second half, but Sevilla has a good squad," he added.

    "We played well and were true to our style of play. It is good that the players are angry at being knocked out and I will try and correct my mistakes so we can be the team we were before," said Guardiola.

    Sevilla will now play Deportivo la Coruna in the quarterfinals after Deportivo came back from two goals down to knock out Valencia.

    Racing Santander, Osasuna and Getafe also qualified to the last eight of the competition.