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EUROPEAN NEWSPAPER REVIEW - Phil Neville in charge at Valencia, Bayern Munich relentlessly march on, and can Caen keep it up?

Andy Mitten reviews the European newspapers and brings us what is being reported on the continent.

David Moyes may have lost his job at Real Sociedad earlier in the month, but another British coach is now jointly in charge at an even bigger Spanish club. For now, Phil Neville is joint caretaker at Valencia after his boss resigned on Sunday.

“Nuno Resigns As The Valencia Coach,” wrote SuperDeporte, the Valencian daily sport paper who, fuelled by words from recently dismissed senior Valencia employees, had been particularly critical of the Portuguese coach. Fans had been singing ‘Nuno yete ya’ (‘Nuno go now’) for months. Having lost the support of almost everyone at the club including his players, he finally bowed to the inevitable.

“The Portuguese told Peter Lim, the club owner, of his decision immediately before the game in Sanchez Pizjuan,” wrote SuperDeporte. That was a match which Valencia, down to 10 men after 34 minutes, lost 1-0. Valencia, who face an away cup game at in-form third division team Barakaldo in the Basque Country on Wednesday, are ninth in La Liga, but only two points off fifth. Their next league game is at home to Barcelona on Saturday.

Neville wants to be a coach and is far more popular with Valencia’s players than Nuno, but he wasn’t expecting to be put in this situation so soon. Valencia will likely look for a more experienced man, but first Neville will have a chance.

Barça stay top in Spain, with Saturday’s 4-0 win over Real Sociedad leading to a ‘Three Amigos’ headline in Mundo Deportivo after Messi, Suarez and Neymar all scored. The trio – known as ‘The Trident’ in Catalonia – have scored 125 goals in 2015, more than the entire Real Madrid team. Madrid did at least win, 2-0 at hard to beat Eibar. ‘3 Points Without Brilliance’ opined the cover of Monday’s Marca, “Bale scored on his return, he’d not scored since August.”

The Bayern Munich machine continues to advance relentlessly on all fronts. “Goal festival becoming the norm” said Thursday’s Kicker after Bayern dismantled Olympiakos 4-0 before a routine 2-0 home win over Hertha Berlin. All accompanied by reports of record turnover of €523m. “Bayern simply don’t have any problems”, said Spiegel.

But not everything is as rosy as it seems; the win over Hertha was the least convincing home performance of the season. “Bayern torture their fans against Hertha” said Die Welt, whilst BILD posed the burning question of the moment: “When will Guardiola extend his contract?” The Catalan has still not signed a new deal and has been linked with both Manchester United and Manchester City.

Borussia Mönchengladbach finally secured their first Champions League win, beating Sevilla in a 4-2 thriller. They now face a “cup final in Manchester” (Kicker) as they aim to qualify for the Europa League. Back in the Bundesliga, André Schubert’s men seemed to be suffering the effects of their midweek exploits and found themselves 3-1 down away to Hoffenheim. But a “super solo run saved Schubert’s record” (BILD), Fabian Johnson’s late equaliser rescuing a 3-3 draw and preserved the new manager’s unbeaten run.

Third from bottom going into this weekend, VfB Stuttgart finally parted company with manager Alexander Zorniger, replacing him with second team coach Jürgen Kramny. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the club were in need of “major restructuring” but any hopes of an immediate “Schubert effect” (Kicker) ended as the Swabians lost 4-1 to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang-inspired Borussia Dortmund.

With 17 league goals, the Gabon striker has already scored more than he did in the whole of last season and Dortmund know he is likely to be the subject of transfer speculation come next summer. “€60m for Aubameyang? Dortmund won’t care” said Die Welt; the 26-year-old’s importance to BVB is considered priceless.

It’s been a tougher week for Mats Hummels who suffered a “bitter pause for thought on the BVB bench” (Die Welt) following poor performances away at Hamburg and Krasnodar. Thomas Tuchel saw it differently though, telling SPORTBILD that his under-fire captain will have been “grateful” for a rest.

Elsewhere, FC Köln are currently rivalling Manchester United in the entertainment stakes. The “goalless non-event” (SPORTBILD) in Darmstadt on Friday night was the club’s third 0-0 draw in the last four games, leaving Cologne’s Express to fear “the return of 00-Stöger” – a reference to manager Peter Stöger’s record of nine goalless draws last season.

In France, PSG played their first home game since the terrorist attacks of two weeks ago. “Hymns and flags for the victims of the attacks”, said La Croix, describing the scene in the Parc des Princes before kick-off. “First reflection, then smiles”, said Le Point, as the hosts brushed aside Troyes 4-1 to extend their lead at the top.

Their nearest challengers (or the ‘dauphin’ in French), however, are not from Marseille, Lyon or Monaco but the historic Norman city of Caen, whose incredible season continued with a 4-1 “humiliation” (20minutes.fr) of Bordeaux. “Bordeaux collapse!” said L’Équipe. “Caen plunge Bordeaux into nightmare” agreed Eurosport.fr.

Saint Etienne “rediscovered the taste of victory” (LeParisien) after a 3-0 win over Guingamp took them fifth, whilst at the other end of the table Lille suffered a 2-0 defeat to Angers, prompting FranceFootball to ask, “Will Lille go down?”. Sunday night’s mid-table clash between Marseille and Monaco saw “plenty of goals but no winner” (L’Équipe) as the two sides battled out an entertaining 3-3 draw at the Stade Vélodrome – “a mad evening which did neither side any good” (LePoint).

In Italy, Juventus’ 3-0 win at Palermo, thanks to three second half goals, sees them make the front page of Monday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. It was a fourth straight win for the champions, leading to the headline “E4! It is four! Juve have returned”. “For now, they are in fifth place, just four points off the Champions League place,” continue the pink one.

Italy’s first and second placed teams meet on Monday night, when Napoli entertain leaders Inter. They pair have lost only one of their 13 games so far this season. ‘Napoli-Inter’, it is your turn’ read Gazzetta, ‘Fantastic Monday with the top three in action’, as third place Fiorentina are also at tiny Sassuolo, in seventh.