Wednesday December 09, 2015 19:45pm – Estadio de Mestalla

Recent form (all competitions)

Valencia: DWLLD

Lyon: LDLLL

Gary Neville will begin his coaching career on Wednesday night by attempting to lead Valencia past Group H opponents Lyon and into the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League.

Neville takes charge

Valencia fans got what they wanted last week when Nuno was finally forced to hand in his resignation, but they were left stunned just two days later when novice Coach Gary Neville was appointed as their new Number One.

Neville will attempt to justify his credentials when he leads his new team out in a must-win Champions League game on Wednesday night at the Mestalla. Qualification is not in their own hands but only a victory will leave them with any chance of progression,

If Los Che can see off the challenge of bottom-ranked Olympique Lyonnais and Gent fail to beat runaway group leaders Zenit in the other game, the Spanish side will take their place amongst the elite 16 of European football.

The former Manchester United player will be without several injured players including Antonio Barragán, Diego Alves, Álvaro Negredo and Rodrigo, while defender Rúben Vezo is serving a one-match ban.

Lyon looking for consolation win

Hubert Fournier’s team are destined to finished bottom of Group H and have little left to play for but pride. If they can beat Valencia, they will avoid becoming the first ever team to finish the group stage winless.

It’s not just in Europe that the French side have been struggling. A home defeat to Angers in Ligue 1 last weekend rounded off a run of five games without a win in all competitions.

Lyon latest list of absentees includes Gueïda Fofana, Aldo Kalulu, Nabil Fekir and Samuel Umtiti, who are all injured, and the banned Jordan Ferri.

Prediction

Gary Neville is joining a side that is a force to be reckoned with on home soil. The home defeat to Zenit was Valencia’s first loss at the Mestalla since they went down to Barcelona over a year ago, and just their second competitive defeat at home in 33 matches. They should have no trouble disposing of a team that has one just one of their last eight away matches. You can back the home win at 4/9 with Betfair.

Young striker Rafa Mir has been making waves at the Mestalla recently having impressed for the youth team, the B team and the first team since the start of the season. His efforts were rewarded with new contract a few weeks ago and he now looks set to make the permanent step up to the first team. The 18-year-old has a great chance of being included in Wednesday’s squad and can be backed at 17/10 with Betfair to score anytime in the game.