Neville urges Mestalla roar for Athletic Europa clash

Gary Neville is hopeful his misfiring Valencia side can return to winning ways with the help of the Mestalla crowd in Thursday’s all-Spanish Europa League tie against Athletic Bilbao.

Valencia are looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of the last-16 encounter and they were beaten by the same scoreline in dispiriting fashion against neighbours Levante in La Liga last weekend.

Neville raged against a performance he deemed to be well below par but maintains his team are moving in the right direction and can succeed with the vocal backing of their home support.

“We’ve been through difficult moments and we have struggled but we must move on from the match against Levante because the level was unacceptable,” he said.

“In the other games we were losing but we played well. We have to show desire and we have to win. I always feel favourite at home, we have confidence.

“We believe we have done the best we could in training, work and preparation. Things are good, we have done everything that is in our control.

“If we keep a clean sheet we have many options to qualify, we need to score goals.

“In my experience, having gone through difficult times at this club, it is in the big moments of the game where you have to perform well.

“Mestalla can put pressure on the opponent and we need to do that tomorrow. We can change the mentality of our players.”