1999–2000 Valencia CF season

Valencia CF emerged as a world football heavyweight after reaching the Champions League final. New coach Héctor Cúper focused heavily on making the defence invincible, although, despite the general perception of a much more defensive Valencia, they actually conceded the same amount of league goals as under previous coach Claudio Ranieri. Among the key players were playmaker Gaizka Mendieta (voted as the best midfielder in the Champions League), goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares, winger Javier Farinós, fellow midfielder Gerard and striker Claudio López, who was sold to Lazio after the end of the season. Lazio had been Valencia's opponents in the quarter-final of the Champions League, which resulted in a 5-2 victory for Valencia against the eventual Italian champions. Gerard was also sold, to the team that had nurtured him, Barcelona, for £15 million. Barcelona had been Valencia's opponents in the semi-finals, and had been crushed 4-1 away. A 2-1 defeat at the Camp Nou still saw Valencia progress to the final at Stade de France, where they came up against Real Madrid in the first ever all-Spanish final of the competition. Valencia's dreams were shattered by a clear 3-0 defeat.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Santiago Cañizares 2 DF Mauricio Pellegrino 3 DF Joachim Björklund 5 DF Miroslav Đukić 6 MF Gaizka Mendieta 7 FW Claudio López 8 MF Javier Farinós 9 MF Óscar 10 MF Angulo 11 FW Adrian Ilie 13 GK Jorge Bartual 14 DF Gerard 15 DF Amedeo Carboni 16 DF Alain Roche 17 FW Juan Sánchez

No. Position Player 18 FW Kily González 19 FW Goran Vlaović 20 DF Jocelyn Angloma 21 MF Luis Milla 22 MF Gerardo 23 MF David Albelda 24 DF Daniel Fagiani 25 GK Andrés Palop 27 MF Curro Montoya 29 GK Jonathan 30 DF Manuel Cabezas 37 MF Alex Pascual 38 MF José Braulio DF Javier Navarro MF Jandro

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 4 DF Francisco Camarasa (to Valencia B) 12 DF Miguel Ángel Soria López (on loan to Numancia)

No. Position Player 22 MF Dennis Serban (on loan to Villareal)

La Liga

Matches

• Valencia-Racing Santander 1-2
• 0-1 Miroslav Đukić  22' (o.g.)
• 0-2 Salva  65'
• 1-2 Gaizka Mendieta  75'

• Espanyol-Valencia 3-2
• 1-0 Benítez  10'
• 2-0 Enrique de Lucas  13'
• 2-1 Gaizka Mendieta  46' (pen.)
• 3-1 Martín Posse  52'
• 3-2 Juan Sánchez  90'

• Valencia-Alavés 0-2
• 0-1 Magno  84'
• 0-2 Martín Astudillo  90'

• Betis-Valencia 1-0
• 1-0 Oli  26'

• Valencia-Valladolid 0-0

• Real Madrid-Valencia 2-3
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  11' (pen.)
• 0-2 Gerard  23'
• 0-3 Claudio López  39'
• 1-3 Fernando Morientes  46'
• 2-3 Fernando Morientes  65'

• Valencia-Numancia 4-0
• 1-0 Adrian Ilie  30'
• 2-0 Adrian Ilie  51'
• 3-0 Javier Farinós  68'
• 4-0 Javier Farinós  89'

• Athletic Bilbao-Valencia 1-0
• 1-0 Ismael Urzaiz  9'

• Valencia-Deportivo 2-0
• 1-0 Kily González  27'
• 2-0 Gerard  86'

• Málaga-Valencia 1-1
• 1-0 Edgar  27'
• 1-1 Claudio López  67'

• Mallorca-Valencia 1-1
• 1-0 Diego Tristán  50'

• Valencia-Barcelona 3-1
• 1-0 Claudio López  32'
• 2-0 Adrian Ilie  36'
• 2-1 Boudewijn Zenden  45'
• 3-1 Gerard  90'

• Real Oviedo-Valencia 0-0

• Valencia-Sevilla 2-0
• 1-0 Juan Sánchez  6'
• 2-0 Claudio López  70'

• Atlético Madrid-Valencia 1-2
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  16'
• 1-1 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink  28'
• 1-2 Juan Sánchez  54'

• Valencia-Rayo Vallecano 3-1
• 1-0 Juan Sánchez  12'
• 1-1 Luis Cembranos  70'
• 2-1 Juan Sánchez  75'
• 3-1 Gaizka Mendieta  90'

• Real Sociedad-Valencia 0-0

• Valencia-Celta Vigo 1-1
• 1-0 Gerard  6'
• 1-1 Velasco  49'

• Real Zaragoza-Valencia 4-2
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  24' (pen.)
• 1-1 Juanele  26'
• 2-1 Savo Milošević  32'
• 3-1 Vladislav Radimov  58'
• 3-2 Gaizka Mendieta  66'
• 4-2 Juanele  68'

• Racing Santander-Valencia 1-1
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  34' (pen.)
• 1-1 Salva  90' (pen.)

• Valencia-Espanyol 1-2
• 0-1 Benítez  15'
• 1-1 Kily González  29'
• 1-2 Arteaga  52'

• Alavés-Valencia 0-1
• 0-1 Javier Farinós  70' (pen.)

• Valencia-Betis 3-1
• 1-0 Adrian Ilie  2'
• 1-1 Iulian Filipescu  60'
• 2-1 Gaizka Mendieta  82' (pen.)
• 3-1 Javier Farinós  83'

• Valladolid-Valencia 0-0

• Valencia-Real Madrid 1-1
• 1-0 Adrian Ilie  35'
• 1-1 Guti  59'

• Numancia-Valencia 1-2
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  4'
• 0-2 Claudio López  60'
• 1-2 Miguel Ángel Soria  77'

• Valencia-Athletic Bilbao 2-0
• 1-0 Óscar  83'
• 2-0 Claudio López  86'

• Deportivo-Valencia 2-0
• 1-0 Fran  24'
• 2-0 Flávio Conceição  50'

• Valencia-Málaga 2-2
• 1-0 Angulo  51'
• 1-1 Catanha  62'
• 2-1 Angulo  67'
• 2-2 Catanha  90' (pen.)

• Valencia-Mallorca 1-0
• 1-0 Jocelyn Angloma  49'

• Barcelona-Valencia 3-0
• 1-0 Winston Bogarde  63'
• 2-0 Patrick Kluivert  68'
• 3-0 Patrick Kluivert  90'

• Valencia-Real Oviedo 6-2
• 1-0 Claudio López  18'
• 2-0 Frédéric Danjou  30' (o.g.)
• 3-0 Claudio López  50'
• 4-0 Angulo  58'
• 5-0 Javier Farinós  61' (pen.)
• 5-1 Viktor Onopko  65'
• 6-1 Óscar  83'
• 6-2 Roberto Pompei  85'

• Sevilla-Valencia 1-2
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  70'
• 1-1 Jesuli  78'
• 1-2 Marcelo Zalayeta  90' (o.g.)

• Valencia-Atlético Madrid 2-0
• 1-0 Claudio López  23'
• 2-0 Angulo  88'

• Rayo Vallecano-Valencia 1-3
• 0-1 Javier Farinós  11'
• 0-2 Gaizka Mendieta  36'
• 0-3 Óscar  82'
• 1-3 Bolo  86'

• Valencia-Real Sociedad 4-0
• 1-0 Angulo  18'
• 2-0 Claudio López  52'
• 3-0 Amedeo Carboni  79'
• 4-0 Gaizka Mendieta  89'

• Celta Vigo-Valencia 0-0

• Valencia-Real Zaragoza 2-1
• 0-1 Savo Milošević  5'
• 1-1 Gary Sundgren  59' (o.g.)
• 2-1 Claudio López  70'

Topscorers

• Gaizka Mendieta 13
• Claudio López 11
• Javier Farinós 6
• Juan Sánchez 5
• Angulo 5
• Adrian Ilie 5
• Óscar 4

Champions League

First group stage

• Valencia-Rangers 2-0
• 1-0 Craig Moore  57' (o.g.)
• 2-0 Kily González  74'

• PSV Eindhoven-Valencia 1-1
• 0-1 Claudio López  4'
• 1-1 Ruud van Nistelrooy  72' (pen.)

• Bayern Munich-Valencia 1-1
• 1-0 Giovane Élber  6'
• 1-1 Gerard  80'

• Valencia-Bayern Munich 1-1
• 1-0 Adrian Ilie  11'
• 1-1 Stefan Effenberg  18' (pen.)

• Rangers-Valencia 1-2
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  34'
• 0-2 Claudio López  45'
• 1-2 Craig Moore  59'

• Valencia-PSV Eindhoven 1-0
• 1-0 Claudio López  70'

Second group stage

• Valencia-Bordeaux 3-0
• 1-0 Javier Farinós  60'
• 2-0 Adrian Ilie  68'
• 3-0 Kily González  88'

• Manchester United-Valencia 3-0
• 1-0 Roy Keane  38'
• 2-0 Ole Gunnar Solskjær  47'
• 3-0 Paul Scholes  69'

• Fiorentina-Valencia 1-0
• 1-0 Predrag Mijatović  20' (pen.)

• Valencia-Fiorentina 2-0
• 1-0 Adrian Ilie  35'
• 2-0 Gaizka Mendieta  90' (pen.)

• Bordeaux-Valencia 1-4
• 0-1 Miroslav Đukić  41'
• 0-2 Gaizka Mendieta  48' (pen.)
• 1-2 Sylvain Wiltord  54'
• 1-3 Kily González  72'
• 1-4 Juan Sánchez  90'

• Valencia-Manchester United 0-0

Quarter-final

• Valencia-Lazio 5-2
• 1-0 Angulo  1'
• 2-0 Gerard  4'
• 2-1 Simone Inzaghi  28'
• 3-1 Gerard  39'
• 4-1 Gerard  79'
• 4-2 Marcelo Salas  86'
• 5-2 Claudio López  90'

• Lazio-Valencia 1-0
• 1-0 Juan Sebastián Verón  51'

Semi-final

• Valencia-Barcelona 4-1
• 1-0 Angulo  10'
• 1-1 Mauricio Pellegrino  27' (o.g.)
• 2-1 Angulo  43'
• 3-1 Gaizka Mendieta  45' (pen.)
• 4-1 Claudio López  89'

• Barcelona-Valencia 2-1
• 0-1 Gaizka Mendieta  70'
• 1-1 Frank de Boer  78'
• 2-1 Philip Cocu  90'

Final

• Real Madrid-Valencia 3-0
• 1-0 Fernando Morientes  39'
• 2-0 Steve McManaman  67'
• 3-0 Raúl  75'