Malaga midfielder Julio Baptista has blasted his former AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri.

Baptista is currently playing in Spain for Malaga and played for the Giallorossi from 2008 to January 2011, scoring 12 goals in 57 games.

"Ranieri is the principle reason I failed at Roma. He tried to destroy me," 'The Beast' told Lancenet.

"I never played. Aside from stepping on to the field or not, the most important thing for me is respect and honesty between people.

"Ranieri was not remotely honest with me or other players, but he was particularly bad with me. I had started well with him, then after an injury he started cutting me out.

"Ranieri ignored me, I was not even called up to the squad and was set aside. It's not the right way to behave."