Valencia vs Lyons match report: Unhappy start for Gary Neville as Valencia drop out with a whimper

Valencia 0 Lyons 2

A glum-looking Gary Neville at the Mestalla last night with his brother Phil on the Valencia bench (Reuters)

It was good while it lasted, but it did not last for long. Gary Neville’s chances of taking Valencia through to the knockout stages of the Champions League survived for around 18 minutes.

That’s when the two huge screens at the Mestalla showed that Gent were 1-0 up against Zenit St Peterburg. The Belgians had to lose and Valencia win, and now Neville needed a goal at the KAA Stadium.

Things got worse on 37 minutes when 19-year-old Maxwell Cornet’s curling shot sailed beyond Valencia goalkeeper Jaume Domenech and into the top right-hand corner of the net. For the first time on the night Neville left his position on the right corner of the technical area and sat down.

Things had not looked good 15 minutes before the game when Neville came out to watch the side being put through their paces by brother Phil and saw that, in the drizzle, the stadium was half-empty. He had asked the supporters to create a horrible atmosphere for the opposition. But this was just plain horrible.

A row had taken place before the game started when the Valencia ultras were prohibited from bringing Internazionale ultras into the stadium.

The former had invited the latter to the game but the Mestalla officials denied the Italian supporters entry and the home fans behind the south goal protested by not making very much noise throughout the first half. Welcome to the politics of Spanish football, Gary.

The other bad news for Neville was that although Lyons had nothing to play for, they had not come to spectate. The pressure was off and they produced the better football, glad to be away from a domestic crisis in Ligue 1 where they trail leaders Paris Saint-Germain by 19 points.

News circulated in the build-up to the game that the Zenit players were on a €200,000 (£145,000) win bonus but it was not working, there was no miracle in Belgium and no miracle at the Mestalla either.

Things might have been different had a crashing Mustafi header not come back off the post from a Rodrigo de Paul corner. Or had the referee not incorrectly ruled out a similar effort moments later that did end up in the back of the net – but it just was not Neville’s night.

Zenit produced an equaliser against Gent with 65 minutes gone but Danijel Milicevic’s 78th-minute winner for the home side confirmed Valencia’s fate.

The last time Neville faced Lyons in the Champions League it was 2004 and he scored a rare Manchester United goal on what was Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1,000th game in charge at the club.

On his first night in charge at the Mestalla there was to be no Champions League glory. The consolation is that the Europa League is a competition which Valencia will feel they can win, although their form will have to improve. Alexandre Lacazette scored a second late on to make it 2-0 on the night.

Neville has work to do now. He will go into Monday’s draw knowing that somewhere in the not too distant future he could even be facing his former club.

Valencia: Jaume, Joao Cancelo, Mustafi, Abdennour, Gaya, Danilo (Negredo, 52), Parejo, Perez (Tropi, 24), Santi Mina, Alcacer, De Paul (Piatti, 75). Substitutes not used: Ryan, Aderlan Santos, Javi Fuego, Gil.

Lyons: Lopes, Da Silva, Morel, Yanga-Mbiwa, Bedimo, Darder (Koné, 77), Gonalons, Tolisso, Cornet, Lacazette (Beauvue, 77), Grenier (Ghezzal, 70). Substitutes not used: Gorgelin, Bisevac, Malbranque, Mvuemba.

Referee: M Jug (Slovenia)