New York City FC striker David Villa says he will struggle to sleep after his team's humiliating exit from the MLS playoffs.
Sebastian Giovinco and Toronto FC showed no mercy as they crushed NYCFC 5-0 in the second leg of their tie to ease into the MLS Eastern Conference championship against the Montreal Impact.
Americans shine in MLS playoffs
Last season's MVP Giovinco scored a hat trick in Sunday's second leg to lead Toronto to a devastating 7-0 aggregate success and to within three matches of winning the MLS Cup.
NYCFC captain Villa played the full 90 minutes of the five-goal home defeat at Yankee Stadium and finds the result tough to accept.
"When I go home, it is difficult for me to sleep because we lost 5-0," the former World Cup winner said to the MLS' official website. "But I will try to sleep with a steady conscience because I gave 100 percent in every time of my life for NYCFC. Of course, I wanted to score a hat trick like Giovinco and give the victory to my team, but I couldn't.
"The defeat is not about one thing or two things, it's not about giving up a lot of goals or scoring a lot of goals. Everything is bad and we play against a better team than us in this round."
Fellow designated players Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo also played in New York's heavy defeat, with the 7-0 margin of victory an MLS postseason record.
#TFC dropped five goals in New York.
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 7, 2016
Watch them all #NYCvTOR https://t.co/QzmLdltfVS