Gary Neville insists he won’t walk away from Valencia despite a heavy Copa del Rey semi-final defeat to Barcelona.
Neville’s side were routed 7-0 at Camp Nou, Valencia going down to 10 men with the score at 3-0, and he hasn’t recorded a League win since replacing Nuno Santo in December.
“I won’t resign,” AS reports the Englishman as saying when speaking to reporters after the hammering.
“I didn’t like what I saw. The fans didn’t deserve this. We have to recover immediately. This is one of my most painful days in football.
“It’s going to be a painful three or four days. When you give the ball away 30 yards from your own goal, you get punished.
“The game was over before we went down to 10. We made so many silly mistakes…You can’t afford that against a team like Barca.”
Neville was asked about the warm welcome Denis Cheryshev received from the Camp Nou crowd after he was involved in Real Madrid being barred from the competition, and then if his mind-set changes with this result.
“No players laughed [at Cheryshev being cheered when brought on]. Not that I saw, at least. The crowd laughed because Madrid were eliminated,” he pointed out.
“My positivity is immovable in life. When things like this happen, there’s nothing to enjoy. I felt helpless in the first half.
“We were playing against a great rival. The result is unacceptable. We have to be strong, we have to perform against Real Betis, that’s what matters now.
“We played a very poor game. The last few weeks we were more structured, but against Barca we took a step back and it’s impossible to play football against [Barca’s front three].
“It was the most painful night and the people of Valencia didn’t deserve it, because this is their club. I have to make sure we win at Betis on Sunday.”
