Neville says players should be shot if they fail to top group

GARY NEVILLE has admitted his Manchester United team-mates will ‘want shooting’ if they do not advance to the second Champions League stage as group winners.

The England fullback was handed his first start for four months against Olympiakos last night and made his presence felt immediately with a superb seventh-minute shot which was tipped round the post at full stretch by Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos.

Having scored just three times in over 350 appearances for the Red Devils, it was always likely the 27-year-old’s 30-yard rasper would not go in. Fortunately, his team-mates adopted a more clinical approach, romping to an impressive 4-0 win to put them six points clear at the top of Group F with three games still to play.

“We have shown we are the best team in the group and we will want shooting if we don’t go through as winners now,” said Neville. Neville’s contribution to the Old Trafford cause is often overshadowed by those of his more glamorous team-mates but manager Sir Alex Ferguson knows his value, especially in the continued absence of skipper Roy Keane. Without the fiery Irishman, Neville’s is the voice which is heard loudest and most often, or, as Ferguson put it ‘his moaning’.

There is also the right-sided link with best friend David Beckham, who has toiled throughout the campaign without quite matching the heights of previous seasons. With the critics lining up to stick the knife into United’s trophy challenges after successive defeats to Bolton and Leeds, Ferguson’s side have responded in typically defiant fashion. Five wins on the bounce have come during an increasingly impressive 13-day period which has earned the praise of the manager, particularly given the run of injuries his team has suffered. Neville hasn’t had quite the same impact on his return from the broken foot he suffered in the first leg of the semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen last year. But, he survived a 45-minute blow-out against the Germans eight days ago and did not feel the pace until the latter stages last night.

He is almost certain to figure in the Premiership game with Everton on Monday and may even get a call from Sven-Goran Eriksson about his availability for England’s Euro 2004 double header with Slovakia and Macedonia “It was difficult against Leverkusen but I felt a lot easier last night,” he said. “I started to struggle in the last few minutes but overall I loved it. It’s the best thing to happen to me in months.”