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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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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Valencia Win After Negredo Hat-Trick

Álvaro Negredo scored a hat-trick, including two second-half penalties, as Valencia beat Granada 4-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 tie on Wednesday.

Negredo has been given a new lease of life under Gary Neville and the win was a confidence boost for Valencia who have yet to pick up a victory in La Liga under the former Manchester United and England defender.

The former Manchester City striker stole the ball off Diego Mainz and stroked it into the corner past Ivan Kelava after seven minutes.

Santi Mina laid the second on a plate for Rodrigo and then Mina was fouled by Uche with Negredo scoring the subsequent penalty after 62 minutes.

Negredo, who has had appendicitis and was frozen out by the former coach Nuno Espírito Santo, scored his third from the spot in the 83rd minute after he was fouled by Dória.

On Sunday Negredo missed a last night minute chance against vistors Real Madrid at the Mestalla thta would have secuireda valuable La Liga victory for his managr, Gary Neville.

However Kaylor Navas  blocked it with his feet at point blank range.

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Valencia v Real Madrid - Preview

Gary Neville has dismissed suggestions his previous encounters with Rafael Benitez provide an advantage for Valencia in Sunday's home Primera Division fixture with Real Madrid.

Neville played for Manchester United throughout Benitez's six-year reign at Liverpool which began in 2004, and also spent six years as a team-mate of Real's key player Cristiano Ronaldo from 2003.

Neville is still looking for his first win as Valencia head coach after losing 1-0 to Villarreal on New Year's Eve and expects to find few similarities with the Real side coached by Benitez now and the Reds team he came up against regularly in the Premier League.

"It's a big match, an important match, playing against Real Madrid in any season is obviously an important match," Neville told the Spanish media after the Villarreal game.

"It's a key match, but (Villarreal) was a key match.

"If we play like we did in the second half (against Villarreal) it gives us a great opportunity. It's a key match but not anything more than Villarreal was.

"It's a very, very different Rafael Benitez team to the one he had at Liverpool. The one he had at Liverpool was obviously a very good team also, but it was a lot more rigid in the way in which it played, even though it had excellent individuals.

"I don't think the lessons of playing against a Benitez team in the past are going to help me or hinder me. I don't think it helps me knowing Rafa Benitez and his style at Liverpool versus playing against Real Madrid on Sunday.

"The team at Liverpool is completely different to the Real Madrid of today."

Anything but victory for Real will likely further increase the pressure on Benitez, which has gradually been building despite them scoring 13 goals in their past two games. Los Blancos currently trail league leaders Barcelona by two points.

His departure would come as little surprise, but Sergio Ramos has called for a period of stability at the famously volatile club.

"At a professional level, I hope 2016 is a successful one, that we can finally reach a regularity, a balance and a stability," he told reporters in Spain.

"And that we find the best way to play, keep that going and get to the end of the season the strongest possible to win titles and celebrate with our fans."

Ramos remains an injury doubt having missed Wednesday's 3-1 defeat of Real Sociedad. Fellow defender Raphael Varane could return from a month out with a thigh injury, as could Dani Carvajal after a similar problem.

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Neville Dimisses Fast Track Talk

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Gary Neville has dismissed the notion he has taken on the role of Valencia head coach in order to fast-track a move into the top job with either Manchester United or England.

Neville, 40, was a surprise appointment as Valencia manager earlier this month on a short-term deal, and has already been mentioned as a candidate to replace the under-pressure Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford, or to succeed Roy Hodgson, who Neville works with as an assistant.

But Neville said his commitment is to Valencia, and he is not treating the job as a stepping stone.

“Me being the England manager in six months or me being the Manchester United manager in six months - I can assure you it’s not going to happen,” Neville said in the Telegraph.

“And it shouldn’t happen. Simple as that. I am removing any doubt that anybody should be thinking in that way. You see these things and it’s nonsense. Honestly, nonsense. I am happy here doing what I am doing. I am happy working under Roy. I have not been back to Manchester United for years. I am happy where I am.

“The idea that I have taken this job so I can pounce on one of those other two jobs - it’s absolutely not true. You can rest assured of that. It’s not going to happen in terms of people offering it to me and it’s not going to happen in terms of me taking it. I want to be absolutely clear on that.”

Neville, who stepped away from media commitments to move to Spain, also revealed he would have turned down the Valencia job had Hodgson not been on board.

“Roy was probably the second or third person I called because I wanted to speak to him about it,” he said. “He could have stopped it. In the sense of when I say stopped it if he had said, ’Look Gary, I’m uncomfortable with you going there. It would harm your role with England and you have to choose either-or’. Then I would have stayed with England.

“Because that was something I wanted to see out. Sky and The Telegraph were big commitments but England was another level. It’s my country. It’s a team I’ve been working with for four years. We have a tournament in the summer.

“I love working with Roy. I love the job. For me not to do that would have been a real ’no, I can’t miss that’. But Roy was so supportive.”

Neville has seen Valencia win one of their four matches since he took charge. They face Villarreal on Thursday and Real Madrid three days later.

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First Win for Nevile Brothers

Gary Neville enjoyed his first win as Valencia coach when his side eased to a 2-0 victory over lower league Barakaldo and booked a place in the Copa del Rey last 16 with a 5-1 aggregate victory.

Santi Mina’s header put Valencia ahead after eight minutes and Álvaro Negredo slotted home having been played in by André Gomes after 31 minutes.

Neville, in his third match in charge, decided against making too many changes despite a 3-1 lead from the first leg against the third-tier side.

Eibar overturned a 3-0 first-leg loss as a Mikel Arruabarrena penalty completed a 4-0 win over 10-man Ponferradina. The top-flight side showed their priority was La Liga by resting nine players from the team that drew with Valencia on Sunday and still won, although the first-half dismissal of Jesus Berrocal made a big difference.

Mirandes of the second tier knocked out Malága as Lago Junior’s goal secured a 1-0 win on the night and 3-1 aggregate triumph.

Óscar De Marcos hit a first-half opener as Athletic Bilbao hammered Linense 6-0 and went through 8-0 on aggregate.

Rayo Vallecano advanced on goal difference against Getafe after losing 3-1, having won the first leg 2-0 while Las Palmas knocked out Real Sociedad after a 1-1 draw put them through 3-2 on aggregate.

Barcelona had reached the last 16 after beating Villanovense in a tie brought forward due to their participation in the Club World Cup. Real Madrid were thrown out of the competition having fielded an ineligible player in their first-leg game against Cádiz.

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Neville Gets Point at Eibar

Gary Neville is still without a win in two games since taking over as Valencia head coach after his new club had a man sent off and needed a fortuitous late goal to rescue a 1-1 draw at Eibar on Sunday.

Neville was a surprise appointment to replace Nuno Espírito Santo and his first game in charge was Wednesday’s 2-0 reverse at home to Olympique Lyonnais that ended Valencia’s hopes of advancing to the Champions League knockout round.

MBM report: Gary Neville’s first La Liga match ended in a draw, with Eibar missing a penalty before ten-man Valencia scored an extremely fortuitous equaliser

The former England defender presided over another disappointing performance at Eibar, although they missed a number of key players, including captain Dani Parejo and midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, through injury and suspension.

Eibar had the better chances in the first half and took a deserved lead moments before the break when Sergi Enrich finished from close range after good work down the right from Ander Capa.

Valencia’s hopes of getting back into the game were dealt a blow in the 63rd minute when defender Lucas Orban was dismissed for an innocuous-looking challenge on Dani García in the penalty area.

Jaume Doménech saved Saúl Berjón’s spot kick and Borja Bastón blasted the rebound over the bar with the visitors’ goal at his mercy.

Valencia levelled five minutes from time when the ball ricocheted off André Gomes and Eibar’s David Junca and squirted past home keeper Asier Riesgo into the net.

Eibar defender Ivan Ramis was then shown a straight red card for felling Paco Alcácer when the Valencia forward was through on goal in the second minute of added time.

Valencia have 21 points in eighth after 15 matches, while Eibar, who have one of the smallest budgets in La Liga, also have 21 points in 10th.

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Gary Neville New Valencia Coach

Gary Neville has been appointed the new head coach of Valencia until the end of the season.

Neville has been working as an England coach and as an award-winning analyst for Sky Sports since retiring as a player in 2011 but now takes up his first managerial role.

The former Manchester United captain - whose brother Phil was named co-caretaker following Nuno's decision last week to step down as boss - has agreed a five-month contract and will continue his role in Roy Hodgson's set-up.

Neville will be unveiled to the media on Thursday afternoon (3pm, UK time) and take charge on Sunday ahead of Valencia's Champions League game against Lyon on Wednesday.

"I am absolutely thrilled to be given this opportunity with Valencia," Neville told the club's official website. 

"Valencia are a huge football club of immense standing and I know from my time as a player the passion and dedication of the Valencia fans.

"I am really looking forward to working with the club's talented group of players and am excited about the challenge ahead."

Neville is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time, having won 20 trophies including eight Premier League titles and two Champions League crowns.

He spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford - making more than 600 appearances - and won 85 England caps.

England boss Hodgson had tipped the former defender, whose international career spanned more than a decade, to eventually make the move into management.

"He'll become a very fine manager in time," Hodgson, speaking earlier this year, said.

"I think he's a very good coach now. He'll become an even better coach with experience. He'll enjoy working with players. I think players will enjoy working with him.

"He'd be a loss to England."

The Nevilles have a connection to the Spanish side through owner Peter Lim, the Singaporean businessman who bought a stake in Salford City from the brothers and their former Manchester United team-mates Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

Phil Neville, whose role is yet to be confirmed, left his own job as a pundit in June to join the coaching staff at the Mestalla.

Valencia remain in contention for the Champions League knockout stages but have struggled in the league this term, winning just five of 11 games after last season's fourth-placed finish.

Their next La Liga match is at home to champions Barcelona on Saturday and Phil Neville will take charge of that game along with co-caretaker Voro.

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