Gary Neville declined a car or security. Valencia's new manager had seen his team draw against Las Palmas in the Copa del Rey quarter-final and was leaving the Mestalla to walk to a nearby restaurant, past the bars popular with fans. It was close to midnight and the streets were quiet, though people still did a double take when they saw their new English coach.
Neville passed the exterior of the Mestalla, one of football’s most distinctive venues, with its sheer sided stands. Once financial issues meant Valencia would not be moving to a new half built 70,0000 capacity stadium any time soon, their new Singaporean owner, Peter Lim, sanctioned an upgrade of Mestalla, where Valencian orange is the colour of choice and images of former idols adorn the exterior. Many were stars of the noughties when Valencia reached successive Uefa Champions League finals, won league titles and European trophies. Valencia is a big city club with expectations to match.
Neville walked by images of those not too distant heroes, Gaizka Mendieta, David Albelda, Ruben Baraja. Expectations sit heavily on the shoulders of any Valencia manager, but Neville can only work with the current, young and expensively assembled squad he inherited.
Seven weeks after taking over, Neville has begun to appreciate the size of the task of managing such a political entity with a deeply demanding local media. He has impressed Valencians with his clear and passionate communication. They respect his status as a legendary player and positive words about his knowledge of football coming from England only encourage them, but ultimately he’s going to be judged on results — and he’s fine with that.
After ten games in charge, Neville has won three, drawn five and lost two. A league win has proved elusive so far, but he’s much to sort out.
There’s significant talent in Valencia’s squad, but it’s a callow crop which needs tending. Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes, 22, could be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Richer clubs are already watching his every move and Valencia will do well to keep him, but they’re not the near bankrupt club they were before Lim arrived. They spent €130 million (Dh517.17m) on players in the close season, but the results have so far been unsatisfactory, with coach Nuno Espirito Santo sacked in December and the team mid-table rather than pushing for top four as expected. After Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Deportivo La Coruna, Valencia are 16 points of fourth and eight off sixth place.
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It will be a huge job to harness and develop exceptional talents like Gomes, Jose Luis Gaya, 20, Joao Cancelo, 21, and Paco Alcacer, 22. Even German international Shkodran Mustafi is considered a relative veteran. He’s 23. They finished Sunday’s game with half their team aged 21 or under.
Lim wants Valencia to be a side of emerging talents. It’s a noble thought and while the United side Neville played in a decade ago proved that you can win trophies with kids, that team also had a spine of experienced players. Valencia do not have enough experienced top players, while those they do have, such as Javi Fuego, have been injured and striker Alvaro Negredo has not found form, though Sunday’s late equaliser will lift his confidence.
It is that confidence which is lacking at Valencia and frustrated fans being on the players’ backs hardly helps. Such is the mood, those fans numbered just 10,000 for the Las Palmas cup draw, the second leg is this Thursday in the Canary Islands. They were supportive of their team during the match, but made their feelings clear at the end of each half.
Supporters want top players now, not in the future, but Neville has to work with what he’s got for now. He’s made his players fitter, he is taking Spanish classes every day and he is utterly driven. A win will help matters immensely.
Levante’s hopes rest on Rossi
“Valencia are goats,” explained a Levante fan to this writer ahead of a Valencia v Levante derby long before Gary Neville worked in the city, “because they are the opposite of bulls. They are not strong. They are weak, weedy and unsteady. There may be more of them, but one Levante fan is worth 1,000 Valencia fans.” The fan was not a fanatical Ultra, but Levante legend Antonio Calpe, who also spent six years playing for Real Madrid in the 1960s. Valencia fans naturally prefer their los che nickname, a familiar local term of address meaning ‘the boys’.
Levante are in their sixth successive season in the Primera Liga, in which they’ve not finished below 14th. They have been a success, but this season has been terrible and Valencia’s smaller top-flight neighbours are bottom. Before Monday night, they had just three wins from 20 games. They made it four on Monday when they beat a Las Palmas side who played two games in Valencia in four days.
Desperate not to be relegated and miss out on the spoils of a new €2.65 billion television deal which starts in August, Levante rolled the dice with their January signings, including striker Giuseppe Rossi on loan from Fiorentina.
A lack of goals had been one problem and they also signed Colombian striker Mauricio Cuero, 22, who stood out in Argentina’s top league last season with Banfied. On Sunday, Chelsea’s Ghanian winger Christian Atsu said he was joining Levante. On Monday, he went to Malaga.
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Levante still have time for further last minute acquisitions, but Monday’s win against Las Palmas put them within two points of safety.
They have been here before, most recently last season when they were bottom of the league at the same stage before rising steadily to 14th by May. They did it by beating the teams around them rather than the top dogs and that is what they hoped to do again starting with the win against Las Palmas.
The signing of Rossi, whose career has been seriously hampered by injury, is the most interesting. The 28-year-old Italian-American had established himself as a world class striker with Villarreal. With Gary Lineker-like instincts in the box, Barcelona were keen to sign him in 2011.
Levante have provided a platform to help rebuild careers before and Rossi’s arrival gave the club a shot of confidence. When he was presented to fans, one elderly supporter welcomed him, hugged him, kissed him, thanked him and told him to enjoy himself in the colours of Levante. No, it was not Calpe.
Levante have a tough run of fixtures, starting with Sunday’s trip to Seville followed by a home game against Barcelona and an away match at sixth place Eibar. They will also play at high flying neighbours Villarreal in February, but if Rossi can come close to reproducing his form of old, they will have a decent chance of staying up.
Game of the week — Barcelona v Atletico Madrid
It’s first v second on Saturday at Camp Nou. Both are four points clear of Real Madrid, though Barcelona do have a game in hand and their position was strengthened as both Madrid teams were held to draws by Sevillian sides at the weekend. Atletico have improved since their home league defeat to Barca, but enough to get something from Camp Nou?
Player of the week — Sergio Rico
The Sevilla goalkeeper, 22, was outstanding as his side were reduced to 10 men but still held Atletico to a goalless draw in the Calderon. His manager Unai Emery was also sent to the stands, but Emery can be proud how his team performed. Sevilla have lost only one in nine and sit 7th.
What else?
— Barcelona had the toughest game from any of the leading sides, but beat in form Malaga 2-1 away, with a first minute goal from Munir and a second half strike from Messi after Juanpi had equalised.
— Athletic Bilbao’s veteran striker Aduriz scored two more as they defeated Basque neighbours Eibar 5-2. Aduriz has only played once for Spain in 2010, but with 13 league goals this season, he’s only behind Eibar’s Borja Baston, (22 and on loan striker from Atletico) as the leading Spanish scorer. With his other strikers misfiring, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque must surely consider Aduriz.
— Atletico Madrid were disappointed to draw with Sevilla, but their 14th clean sheet in 21 games is the best record in Spain since Deportivo La Coruna managed 16 after the same number of games in 1993-94.
— Betis were pleased with their draw at home to Real Madrid, but they’ve now gone eight at home without a win and have only won once all season in Sevilla. Their away form is keeping them in 14th.
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