Gary Neville: Valencia boss unconcerned by potential Manchester United tie in Europa League

New Valencia head coach Gary Neville says he is not thinking about the prospect of drawing Manchester United in the Europa League draw next week. Neville endured a baptism of fire in his managerial debut as Valencia were beaten 2-0 by Lyon at the Mestalla on 9 December, knocking the hosts out of the Champions League.

The Spanish side had to win against the Ligue 1 outfit to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages, but goals from Maxwel Cornet and Alexandre Lacazette condemned them to third place in Group H.

Valencia could draw Neville's former club United as their opponents in the Europa League round of 32 draw on 14 December, with the Premier League giants exiting the Champions League as a result of a 3-2 loss at Wolfsburg on 8 December.

"We will take the competition seriously, number one," Neville was quoted as saying of the Europa League by Sky Sports.

"Who we draw and whether we play Manchester United is the last thing on my mind at this moment in time.

"I'm thinking about Sunday's game [against Eibar] in the league, I'm thinking about recuperation, recovery and making sure the players are well prepared for Sunday.

"Honestly at this moment in time I couldn't care if we play Manchester United or anyone else in the next round of the Europa League. That's in the distance," the former United defender continued.

"I've got to think about tomorrow, the day after and doing my job and how that can affect the players on Sunday."

'Heavy legs'

Neville admitted that his players had heavy legs and could not cope with Lyon's clinical counter-attacks. "I think we had lead in our legs, as if we had played another game today," he observed.

"We were the better side in the first half, but in the second we conceded a lot of counter-attacks and conceded the second goal.

"They were better than us and there's no excuse. We can't be happy with how we played and we can't blame anyone."