Valencia coach Gary Neville is looking forward to Sunday's clash with Rafa Benitez's Real Madrid.

Neville is still looking for his first win as Valencia head coach after losing 1-0 to Villarreal on New Year's Eve and expects to find few similarities with the Real side coached by Benitez now and the Reds team he came up against regularly in the Premier League.

"It's a big match, an important match, playing against Real Madrid in any season is obviously an important match," Neville told the Spanish media after the Villarreal game.

"It's a key match, but (Villarreal) was a key match.

"If we play like we did in the second half (against Villarreal) it gives us a great opportunity. It's a key match but not anything more than Villarreal was.

"It's a very, very different Rafael Benitez team to the one he had at Liverpool. The one he had at Liverpool was obviously a very good team also, but it was a lot more rigid in the way in which it played, even though it had excellent individuals.

"I don't think the lessons of playing against a Benitez team in the past are going to help me or hinder me. I don't think it helps me knowing Rafa Benitez and his style at Liverpool versus playing against Real Madrid on Sunday.

"The team at Liverpool is completely different to the Real Madrid of today."