Gary Neville suffered ‘most painful night’ as Barcelona ran riot

Gary Neville confronted by Hislop over Qatar World Cup

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Gary Neville’s ‘most painful night’ in football did not come during his playing days, but as a manager when his Valencia side were ripped to shreds by Lionel Messi and Barcelona on this day back in 2016. The former Manchester United right-back has enjoyed a fruitful career in punditry since hanging up his boots but failed to succeed as a head coach when he was bizarrely given the top job at Valencia eight years ago.

Neville was drafted in to replace Nuno Espirito Santo at the Mestalla in 2015 but endured a disastrous start to his managerial career by failing to win any of his first eight matches in charge. The prospect of a Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona would have seemed like a welcome break from league action and a golden chance for Neville to assert himself in the role by reaching the final, although it could not possibly have gone any worse for the ex-England defender.

Barcelona ran riot to condemn Valencia to a humiliating 7-0 loss at the Nou Camp, with their established international stars taking full advantage of Neville’s shoddy tactical approach and lack of ability to communicate properly with his players over the course of the 90 minutes. Luis Suarez scored four goals while a hat-trick from Messi gave Barcelona an insurmountable first-leg lead to hand Neville his worst night in football altogether, let alone the worst of his fledgling managerial career.

The embarrassing nature of result saw Valencia fans turn on Neville in their droves, with it quickly becoming clear that he was not the right man to continue leading them as a result of the club’s horrendous form during his tenure. He was adamant that he would not resign when asked directly if he was going to quit in his post-match press conference but was eventually sacked after less than four months in charge, leaving Valencia firmly in mid-table and under serious threat of being dragged into a relegation dogfight.

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Neville admitted in a statement at the time that he did not have grounds to argue with the board’s decision to relieve him of his duties, saying: “I would like to thank Valencia Football Club, the fans, staff and the players. I would have liked to have continued the work I started but understand that we are in a results business and in the 28 games they have not been to my standards or to those which are required by this club.”

The former United defender went on to open up on his failed spell in charge of Valencia back in 2020, revealing that he underestimated the challenge of managing a club of their stature and admitting that his ego was responsible for his decision to accept the role in the first place.

“I think at that point, I’d lived through Man United for 20 years, I’d gone to Sky and it had gone well, so you felt a little bit unbreakable, a little bit in a position where nothing is going to go wrong,” Neville told the Off Script podcast.

“When you are unprepared you’re not working as hard as some people are, when you take something on that you are not qualified in or not as qualified as you should be, you get a slap around the face.

“I underestimated how difficult it would be in a different league in a different city in a different country and the language barrier and all that entails. I underestimated the size of the job I was about to take on. I knew it was going to be difficult because the results weren’t great.”

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