Inter Miami boss Phil Neville has stood by his decision to play his son and David Beckham 's son Romeo despite being thrashed 6-0 by Barcelona.
What was meant to be a momentous occasion for Inter Miami has backfired, as not only were they humiliated by the Catalan side, Neville has been targeted. Not only has he received backlash for calling the friendly the 'biggest match in their history', he's been jeered for playing his and Beckham's son during the game.
Neither son has played a single minute of MLS football for the first team, but featured against a quality Barcelona side in front of a capacity crowd at the Drive Pink Stadium. But Neville has insisted that the pair 'earned the right' to play on the night.
Neville defended his decision after receiving heavy backlash by saying: "I was super proud of them both. Romeo only got on for the last five or six minutes, which is difficult, but they’d earned the right to get on.
"They both showed really good temperament and I think tonight we learned an awful lot. It was a big challenge for us, as you could see. We were playing against world-class players, two world-class teams in each half really.
"So it was a brilliant occasion to play in, you could feel the buzz in the air, the supporters – we’ve now experienced what a sold out Drive Pink (DRV PNK Stadium) feels like. I think from a playing point of view, the game was always going to be something for us to really enjoy.
"And we’ve got a lot of young players in there that will have taken some real valuable experiences about the level that you need to be at to play at the top, top level. DeAndre [Yedlin] has played at the top, top level, we’ve got players that want to go to World Cups, play in the Champions League etcetera and they’ve experienced tonight what the best do.
"I thought it was a brilliant learning experience for us all. It was difficult, we had to dig in, we had to fight, we had to accept that they were going to have a lot of possession of the ball and really to keep it to 6-0 was a real positive for us.
"It’s a great learning experience for everyone in the team and everyone got onto the pitch that we wanted to, got valuable experience, and they will have learnt an awful lot." The defeat means that now both Neville brothers have been on the receiving end of a heavy defeat to Barcelona as head coach.
Gary Neville's Valencia side were thrashed 7-0 by Barcelona back in 2016, and shortly after he was sacked for a woeful four-month spell in charge. Neville returned to punditry and has vowed to never to manage again, but brother Phil has stuck to coaching.
The Inter Miami boss has also spent time managing the England women's team, who are currently impressing in the European Championships. They have been backed to bring the trophy 'home', and in a dream scenario both the men's and women's team could win international silverware in 2022.
However, silverware is something that Inter Miami are yet to receive, and they are continuing to put together a consistent run of form in the MLS. They were only founded four years ago however.
