European Newspaper Review: Gary Neville holds Real Madrid to leave Rafa Benitez under pressure, David v Goliath in France, and transfer speculation gathers pace

Andy Mitten brings the latest news being reported by European papers, including the start of the January transfer window speculation and rumours.

Valencia’s enthralling 2-2 draw with Real Madrid drew praise across Spain.

Gary Neville has drawn three and lost one of his four league games in charge so far, but his side were praised with the local – and usually sceptical – newspaper Super Deporte headlining: ‘Great game for Valencia’.

Neville agreed that the performance was fantastic, the best since he’d taken over. “The best thing is they are all young and they are so talented it’s untrue, they really are. There are some fantastic players in the changing room.”

It was a rare occasion when Real Madrid failing to win a game was a positive for their manager, though AS’s Alfredo Relano described it as “a crazy draw which resolves nothing”.

Under severe pressure for his job, Rafa Benitez received a warm welcome and saw flags to honour him at Valencia, a club he led to their most recent batch of successes, including two titles. “I’m very grateful to the Mestalla,” said the former Liverpool and Chelsea boss.

Valencia have improved under Neville, but they’re 10th and need to start winning games to close the 13-point gap between them and the fourth place for a Champions League spot.

In a change of calendar, Spain played two fixtures over the New Year for the first time. Atletico and Villarreal came out of it best with two wins, which sees the Madrid side go top (though Barça have a game in hand) and Villarreal fourth.

Competitive football returned in France after a short Christmas break with the last 32 of the Coupe de France throwing up the usual David vs Goliath ties.

“C’est la magie de la Coupe” exclaimed L’Équipe as fourth tier FC Chambly provided the shock of the round, beating Ligue 1 Reims 4-1 in Picardy. “Chambly didn’t just eliminate Reims, they swept them aside” added Eurosport.fr.

It was to be the only significant giant-killing in a round where, “even if some suffered, Ligue 1 sides did their jobs to reach the last 16” (FranceFootball).

PSG travelled to fifth tier amateur side ES Wasquehal just outside of Lille, winning 1-0 thanks to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic header. “Minimum requirement for PSG” sniffed Le Parisien. “Parisians count on Ibrahimovic” said Yahoo.fr, whilst Laurent Blanc lamented that his side “couldn’t do any better”, as l’Équipe reported.

New Lyon manager Bruno Genesio enjoyed a straightforward first game as his side beat fifth division Limoges 7-0. “It’s difficult to do much better than that”, he told l’Équipe.

Elsewhere, Lille OSC made the short trip to third division Amiens where a penalty was enough to see them through “without showing a great deal” (L’Équipe).

Sunday night’s all-Ligue 1 clash between high-flying Caen and struggling Marseille ended 0-0, with the southerners advancing 3-1 on penalties “thanks to an excellent [goalkeeper] Steve Mandanda” (l’Équipe), who made three saves in the shootout. FranceFootball reported that Caen had the better chances but Marseille, reduced to 10 men in the second half, did well to hold on for penalties.

In other news in France, RMC ran with an interview given by Paul Pogba to the Italian daily La Stampa in which the French international described training during his time at Manchester United as “like being on holiday” compared to the hard work required at Juventus.

L’Équipe reported on Anthony Martial’s fortunes in Manchester, saying “Martial and Rooney give United lift-off” after the French youngster’s goal against Swansea.

The transfer rumour mill has started turning in Germany with SPORTBILD reporting that PSG are interested in Stoke City striker Marko Arnautovic and that Arsenal are prepared to offer €57m for Borussia Dortmund star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The paper believes the London club have already made contact with the Gabonian, although Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are also interested.

Deutsche Welle carried quotes from Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Völler stating that Javier Hernandez will not be going anywhere. There had been suggestions that Arsenal were interested in signing the Mexican who has scored 11 goals in 14 Bundesliga appearances.

The first big transfer of the January window appears to be settled with both Südwestrunkfunk and SPORTBILD reporting that German winger Kevin Großkreutz has passed a medical ahead of a move from Galatasaray to VfB Stuttgart. Die Welt explained how the cash-strapped Swabians can afford the former Dortmund man, as the club are expecting a second €9m payment from AS Roma following the transfer of Antonio Rüdiger. Suggestions that Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool would help fund the transfer by purchasing Filip Kostic, however, were wide of the mark.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the second half of the Bundesliga season will be Pep Guardiola’s final six months at Bayern Munich. “The countdown begins! It’s Milan or nothing for Pep” said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, referring to the Champions League final at the San Siro on May 28th.

The paper believes a third Bundesliga title in a row is a given and even another domestic double would represent a disappointing end to the Catalan’s reign.

In Italy, Serie A will resume after its Christmas break with Tuesday’s derby between Genoa and Sampdoria. Wednesday sees the rest of the teams play, but with no football to report on so far, Monday’s Gazetta dello Sport asks: “Transfer Market, what will happen?’

It then lists a number of possibles and probables: ‘Lavezzi and Calleri – Inter’, ‘Lopez – Fiorentina’, ‘Banega – AC Milan’, ‘El Shaaraway and Perotti – Roma’, ‘Maksimovic – Napoli’ and ‘Matri – Juve’.