Valencia v Athletic Bilbao - Preview

Gary Neville insists he can handle the pressure but has made it clear his side need to ``deliver'' in Thursday's Europa League home clash with Athletic Bilbao.

Neville's position with Los Che continues to be under intense scrutiny after Sunday's 1-0 Primera Division loss at rock-bottom derby rivals Levante, which he branded ``unacceptable'' and was their third straight defeat in all competitions.

With Valencia currently 12th in the league table and their Copa del Rey campaign having ended in the semi-finals, the Europa League would appear their only realistic route left if they are going to achieve success this term.

They lost the first leg of their last-16 tie with fellow Spanish outfit Athletic 1-0 last week.

And ahead of their attempt to turn things around at the Mestalla, Neville - who also has international commitments to worry about as part of the England coaching team - said: ``I have no problem with anything that has been said in these last few days. I expected it.

``I don't want it, but I have been in football a long time and when you have a performance like that and you play like that (against Levante), you cannot defend (it).

``I understand the fans' anger - they should be angry and I accept this completely. I said this on Sunday after the game - that we have to accept any criticism that comes our way.

``Do I find it harder to work under the pressure?

``I have been in these types of situation - not as a head coach maybe, but as a player and as an assistant coach working with England, I have been in this type of situation before where it has been very difficult and I have been surrounded by these types of moment.

``I don't feel destabilised by the fact we are working under this level of pressure.

``But if we don't deliver, then we know the circumstances, we know the outcome, we know what is going to be said.''

Neville's men host an Athletic side who are six places above them in the Primera Division and on a five-game winning streak in all competitions.

Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde told Marca: ``For us it is a final. There is a team that will be left out, and we do not want it to be us.

``They may be under more pressure because they are further back than they thought, but that should not affect us - we have the same amount of enthusiasm as them.''

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Europa League Last 16 Draw

Liverpool and Manchester United, who have never met before in European competition, will face off in what promises to be a mouth-watering last-16 tie in the Europa League.

United have beaten Liverpool twice in the Premier League already this season and will have the advantage of playing the second leg at Old Trafford on 17 March. The first leg will be at Anfield a week earlier on 10 March.

Jürgen Klopp said he was excited at the prospect of meeting United over two legs. “It’s great. We deserve these games. I told my staff yesterday that I wanted Man Utd,” he said

Louis van Gaal’s team are scheduled to play West Ham in the FA Cup quarter-finals between both legs, with a trip to Manchester City three days after the second leg. Liverpool, on the other hand, have the weekend between free having been knocked out of the FA Cup by West Ham.

Klopp’s team progressed by beating Augsburg 1-0 on aggregate, while a late flourish from an injury-hit United against Midtjylland saw them advance 6-3 on aggregate.

Tottenham’s reward for beating Fiorentina is a difficult meeting with Borussia Dortmund, the tournament favourites, though Mauricio Pochettino’s team will be at home for the second leg.

Gary Neville’s Valencia, who defeated Rapid Vienna 10-0 on aggregate, will face La Liga opposition in Athletic Bilbao. 

The other ties feature Shakhtar Donetsk against Anderlecht, Basel v Sevilla, who are looking to win this competition for the third year running, and Villarreal v Bayer Leverkusen.

Ties to be played 10 & 17 March

Shakhtar v Anderlecht

Basel v Sevilla

Villarreal v Bayer Leverkusen

Athletic Bilbao v Valencia

Liverpool v Manchester United

Sparta Prague v Lazio

Borussia Dortmund v Tottenham Hotspur

Fenerbahce v Braga

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Cristiano Misses Penalty in Malaga Draw

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Cristiano Ronaldo scored a disputed header and missed a penalty as Real Madrid drew at Malaga to trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by nine points.

After a quiet start, Real forward Ronaldo headed in Toni Kroos' free-kick despite looking offside.

He then had a penalty saved by Carlos Kameni after he was brought down.

Keylor Navas kept Real in the game with several fine saves but Raul Albentosa was unmarked at the back post to fire in the equaliser.

Both goalkeepers were in fine form but rather than view this as two points dropped, Real may look at the result as a point gained given the chances that fell to their opponents, who moved into the top half of the table.

The result matched the goalless draw that Javier Garcia's side achieved in the Bernabeu earlier in the season and although Zinedine Zidane's team move into second, ahead of Atletico Madrid on goal difference, they can slip to third again when their city rivals face Villarreal later on Sunday.

Ronaldo walked out of a midweek news conference ahead of Real's Champions League tie at Roma when he was asked about his record of not having scored away from home since 29 November.

But after scoring in the 2-0 win in Rome and at Malaga he answered those critics, although four league games without an away goal hardly constituted a drought.

He was fortunate not to be flagged offside when he nodded in the opener, his 34th goal of the season, and he made the most of the touch he drew from Weligton in winning the penalty.

Malaga will feel that justice was served when Kameni saved to his left, with the Cameroon goalkeeper also keeping out Ronaldo's near-post shot later in the game.

New coach Zinedine Zidane has six wins and two draws from his eight games in charge

Real were without the injured Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, in addition to the suspended Raphael Varane, and it was at the back that they looked most vulnerable, particularly with several dubious back-passes early on.

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Valencia Reach Copa Last Four

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Valencia reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals after a Rodrigo Moreno goal earned a morale-boosting 1-0 second-leg victory at Las Palmas and a 2-1 aggregate win.

The Mestalla side have yet to win in seven La Liga matches under their coach, Gary Neville, and lie 11th in the table but this victory will ease some of the tension surrounding the club.

The game was always in the balance but Valencia worked hard defensively and had the better chances to score with Moreno slotting home after 20 minutes.

“Our fans deserved to enjoy a moment like this,” Neville said. “They have been patient with me and with the team in these past six weeks.”

“It has not been easy for us,” Rodrigo said. “It was important to advance to the next round, it gives us more confidence. We played well in the first leg but didn’t get a good result. Today we didn’t play brilliantly but we advanced, and that’s what was important.”

Sevilla eased into the last four after a Vicente Iborra penalty helped them to a 3-0 second-leg win over second-tier Mirandes and a 5-0 aggregate success.

Sevilla were firmly in charge from the start and went ahead after Sebastián Cristóforo was upended by Ion Vélez and Iborra sent the goalkeeper Raúl Fernández the wrong way with his spot kick after nine minutes.

Mirandes caused little danger and Sevilla could have added to their lead but Yevhen Konoplyanka fired over and Vitolo had a shot beaten away by Fernández in the first half.

They sealed the win after the break when the 20-year-old Juan Muñoz finished clinically after 70 minutes from a Vitolo pass and Coke headed home the third goal in stoppage time.

Sevilla have clicked into gear after a slow start to the season and have suffered only one defeat in 16 games in all competitions, moving them up to seventh in La Liga.

Barcelona reached the semi-finals on Wednesday after knocking out Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player in an earlier round.

Celta Vigo completed the semi-final lineup with a 3-2 aggregate success against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday.

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Barca Battle Back to Beat Bilbao

Goals from Neymar and Luis Suárez helped Barcelona fight back to beat Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou and reach the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

Despite leading 2-1 after the first leg of their rematch of last year’s final, Bilbao dominated most of the first half and took a 1-0 lead on the night after Inaki Williams’s 12th-minute goal.

The second half, however, was all Barcelona’s after Suárez calmed the home fans with the equaliser in the 53rd minute.

Visibly tired from their first-half efforts, Bilbao wilted before Gerard Piqué and Neymar scored to make it 5-2 on aggregate with less than 10 minutes left.

“We went out with a good advantage but then conceding made it complicated for us,” Suárez said. “It was a poor first half from us but then we went out with a different attitude and that made the difference.”

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Pundit Neville Shown White Hankies

Valencia’s struggles under Gary Neville continued when they had to come from behind to rescue a 1-1 draw in their Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg at home to Las Palmas.

The former England and Manchester United defender took over as the coach at the Mestalla last month after Nuno Espírito Santo was sacked but has yet to secure a win in La Liga in six attempts. Fans waved white handkerchiefs at the final whistle .

The draw left Neville frustrated but he was upbeat about Valencia’s performance. “When you draw a game at home you are always disappointed,” the Valencia manager said. “But if we play like we did today again we will win matches.”

Valencia fell behind in the 38th minute when the midfielder Wilfried Zahibo headed past his own goalkeeper Mathew Ryan from a free-kick.

Paco Alcácer equalised in the 61st minute with a well-struck shot from just outside the area but the home side were unable to make sustained late pressure count.

Álvaro Negredo fluffed a great chance in the third minute of added time when he failed to connect cleanly with a José Luis Gayà centre, leaving Las Palmas with an advantage for next week’s return leg in the Canary Islands.

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Valencia Scrape Home Point

Gary Neville praised his Valencia side's ability to bounce back after coming from behind twice to scrape a 2-2 draw with Rayo Vallecano, but called their first-half performance "unacceptable".

Valencia managed just three shots in the opening 45 minutes against struggling Rayo, who took an early lead through Jozabed. Alvaro Negredo equalised for Los Che in the second half with a stunning strike from 50 yards out but Rayo restored their lead when Diego Llorente was granted too much space to fire home following a corner.

The home side secured the point their performance scarcely deserved as Paco Alcacer levelled late on, minutes after an earlier effort from the same player had been wrongly disallowed for offside.

"The first half I find difficult to explain, it was an incredibly disappointing performance," Neville told reporters at a press conference. "I said at half-time that for me football is about joy. Of course you have to win but you have to enjoy the experience, you have to have expression, and in the first half we didn't show anything.

"But there are two positives I can take, which is the response in the second half and that players have demonstrated again and again that they have spirit to come back in games they haven't done well in."

This fightback was the fourth time Valencia have taken a point after going behind in Neville's six league games in charge, and he said that showed that his team did not lack leaders, as local media have suggested.

"People will say there's no spirit and no fight. but teams don't come back from losing positions unless they've got fighting spirit," he said. "If there was no response I'd be concerned, but I see response after response. We did it against Getafe, Eibar, Real Madrid and today, and that counts for a lot. Leadership is showing fighting spirit when the game is against you. When you're 2-0 down, 1-0 down, you have to show leadership characteristics to fight back."

Neville was also careful not to criticise the decision to rule out Alcacer's effort before the Spain international finally levelled because of his team's overall display.

"The goal was onside but it wouldn't be right for me to talk about a disallowed goal," he said. "You've seen the game, and Rayo's coach will be disappointed with the result."

Valencia's supporters booed the players off the pitch at half-time, but Neville believes their reaction may have helped his side come out stronger after the break.

"At any football ground fans have the absolute right to express themselves any way they want. The fans here are fantastic, they are passionate, and you heard them still singing in the second half," he said.

"There's no way I can criticise them for some boos at half-time. In terms of the effect it has, today it had a positive effect because we played a lot better in the second than in the first half."

And although Neville is still searching for a first league win since succeeding Nuno Espirito Santo in December, he insisted he was not disheartened by their form.

He added: "My confidence in myself is fine, the confidence in terms of the work we're doing is good. I agree the results are not what I wanted or the club or the fans expect. It's taking time to change to get to a level I want. It's not for a lack of effort from the players. They ran a million miles to get the game back. The work I'm doing here I believe in and the players believe in it."

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Atletico Madrid Top La Liga

AP

Thomas Partey scored his first La Liga goal as Atlético Madrid beat Levante 1-0 at home to go top of the table.

Atlético lacked a finishing touch until the Ghanaian midfielder struck nine minutes from time with a shot that squirmed away from Diego Marino, the Levante goalkeeper.

“The team is playing well and anyone could have got the goal,” Partey, 22, said. “I am still learning and by working hard I am having more chances to play.”

Saúl Ñíguez almost gave Atlético the lead inside two minutes with a near-post header from a corner that went just over the crossbar. Jackson Martínez had an effort well saved by Marino before defender Stefan Savic nodded the ball against the top of the bar from a corner.

At the other end Verza, the midfielder, had a golden chance to put Levante in front on the half hour but fired wide for the club that is bottom of the league.

Atlético midfielder Koke then cracked a half-volley against the underside of the bar from 25 yards after 54 minutes and a cross from Luciano Vietto also thumped the woodwork.

The home side’s attempts were becoming ever more desperate before Partey, who had been on the pitch for seven minutes, burst through the centre of the penalty area and Marino was unable to hold his shot as the ball crept over the line.

Atletico have 41 points, two more than Barça who have a game in hand. Third-placed Real Madrid are on 36 points and visit Valencia on Sunday.

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