Valencia's Gary Neville says you can't prepare for Ronaldo, reveals career plans

Valencia manager Gary Neville is set for his toughest test yet Sunday as Real Madrid visits the Mestalla Stadium for weekend La Liga action. These two parties, whose distaste for one another has grown over the years, will lock horns. For Neville, though, there's more on the line than points - there's pride.

Since taking over at Los Che, Neville has yet to win a game in the league. And against Los Blancos, Neville will go up against a familiar foe - former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.

"I know how good he is," Neville told Sky Sports' Geoff Shreeves. "I've not spent a massive amount of time thinking about him, and that's not paying disrespect to him. When you're playing against Cristiano Ronaldo you can plan all you like for it, but on his day he can do something special; a free-kick from 40 yards, something ridiculous on the ball. ...

"It's a great challenge."

While Real Madrid is Neville's immediate focus, he is thinking to the future - and management isn't his choice of a long-term career path.

"I'm not going to say where I want to end up, and it isn't in management or head coaching, so I want to be clear about that," Neville said. "That's not my ultimate goal of where I want to be."

Since retiring from Manchester United, Neville has dabbled in media and broadcasting, acted as an assistant to Roy Hodgson with the England national team, and even became a part-owner of a football club, Salford City.

"From my point of view, I was really enjoying what I was doing," Neville said. "I really was, the multiple things I had on, even though I knew it was coming to a point where I had to make decisions at the end of this season."

Though he admits freely that Valencia was an "attractive" option, Neville said he doesn't intend to use Los Che as a stepping stone for a bigger job, whether back at Old Trafford or with the Three Lions.

For now, Neville is just trying to adapt to life in Spain, and the challenges that come with it.

"Without a shadow of a doubt the biggest challenge has been halftime, having to communicate through a translator, it's the most frustrating thing," Neville revealed. "The team talk, because it is well-prepared and planned, is fine. But halftime obviously it just frustrating, you want to be able to speak and for people to react.

"But it's my problem, I knew what I was getting into but that is the biggest frustration and challenge so far."