AP, Madrid :
Valencia beat third-tier club Barakaldo 2-0 for Gary Neville’s first win as a head coach on Wednesday, advancing to the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey 5-1 on aggregate.
Santi Mina scored in the eighth minute and Alvaro Negrodo added in the 31st at the Mestalla Stadium to give Neville the victory in his third game in charge of the Spanish club.
“I’m happy with the result,” Neville said. “Tonight it was important to win to build confidence. We hadn’t won in the last couple of weeks. It was important to do it tonight.”
Neville was confirmed as head coach just before Valencia won the first leg 3-1, but wasn’t on the bench during the game. He watched from the stands when his team held Barcelona to a 1-1 home draw in the Spanish league.
The former England and Manchester United defender debuted with a 2-0 loss to Lyon in the Champions League, a result that eliminated Valencia from the competition. His second game was a 1-1 draw at Eibar in the Spanish league over the weekend.
“I think the talent is there, the ability is there,” Neville said. “I saw many individual things that I liked tonight. I think that as a coach you are always thinking about what needs to improve, and there were things that we could have done better tonight, but also things that we did well.”
In other games Wednesday, second-division club Mirandes upset Malaga 3-1 on aggregate after a 1-0 win in the second leg, while Eibar advanced 4-3 on aggregate after routing Ponferradina 4-0. The deciding goal was an 85th-minute penalty converted by Mikel Arruabarrena.
Rayo Vallecano eliminated Getafe on away goals despite a 3-1 loss, while Athletic Bilbao had six different scorers in a 6-0 rout of Linense to advance 8-0 on aggregate.
Las Palmas drew 1-1 at Real Sociedad to reach the next round 3-2 on aggregate.
