Neville's debut ends in disappointment as Valencia out of Champions League

Gary Neville's debut as Valencia coach ended in disaster as his side lost 2-0 at home to Olympique Leon to crash out of the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Valencia went into the game with the odds against them qualifying as they needed to win at home to Lyon while Gent had to fail to win at home to group leaders Zenit St Petersburg.

Although the new coach returned striker Alvaro Negredo to his squad, Valencia got off to a sluggish start against a side which has struggled in recent weeks in France, although they were perhaps unlucky to have a goal ruled out after Mustafi's header following a corner.

However, they fell behind to stunning Gnarly Cornet's goal eight minutes from halftime after the Lyon winger advanced down the right wing before cutting in and unleashing a powerful left-foot shot into the corner of the net.

Negredo got into the action early in the second half and Mestalla took heart with news of a Zenit equalizing goal in Gent, but as the game became more stretched Valencia became vulnerable to the counter-attack and Lyon doubled their lead through Alexandre Lacazette in the 76th minute.

The news became worse when moments later news of Gent's second goal came through and Valencia will have to be satisfied with a place in the Europa League alongside Sevilla.

Bayer Leverkusen will also have to be content with the Europa league after failing to win at home to an FC Barcelona played a side filled with fringe players and Leo Messi, who was to prove decisive.

Youngsters Sergi Samer and Wilfred Kaptaum were in the Barca side, which saw how Leo Messi put Barca ahead in the 20th minute only for Javier Hernandez to level just three minutes later.

Bayer looked for the win until the end, but although they dominated more of the match, Barca held on for a draw. Endit