# 2002–03 Valencia CF season

Valencia CF did not succeed in defending their La Liga title, finishing in slumped 5th place. Los Che also got to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, where former coach Héctor Cúper and Inter got the upper hand over Valencia and Rafael Benítez. The main player during the season was Pablo Aimar, who was the only player making waves in the season, where the previously solid defense did not perform as previously.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Santiago Cañizares |
| 2 | DF | ARG | Mauricio Pellegrino |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Fábio Aurélio |
| 4 | DF | ARG | Roberto Ayala |
| 5 | DF | SCG | Miroslav Đukić |
| 6 | MF | ESP | David Albelda |
| 7 | FW | NOR | John Carew |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Rubén Baraja |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Salva |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Angulo |
| 11 | FW | ESP | Juan Sánchez |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Carlos Marchena |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Andrés Palop |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Vicente |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Amedeo Carboni |
| 16 | MF | ROU | Dennis Șerban |
| 17 | MF | FRA | Anthony Réveillère |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | ARG | Kily González |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Francisco Rufete |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Mista |
| 21 | MF | ARG | Pablo Aimar |
| 22 | MF | URU | Gonzalo de los Santos |
| 23 | DF | ESP | Curro Torres |
| 27 | DF | ESP | David Navarro |
| 28 | GK | ESP | David Rángel |
| 29 | MF | ESP | Ximo Enguix |
| 30 | FW | ESP | Borja Criado |
| 31 | DF | ESP | Miguel Albiol |
| 34 | MF | ESP | Javier Garrido |
| 36 | DF | FRA | Jean-Félix Dorothée |
| 37 | MF | ESP | Pablo Redondo |
| 39 | MF | ESP | Jaime Gavilán |
| 40 | DF | ESP | César Soriano |
| — | DF | PAR | Ángel Amarilla |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| DF | Anthony Réveillère | Rennes | loan |
| DF | Jean-Félix Dorothée | Rennes | Free |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| FW | Adrian Ilie | Deportivo Alavés |
| DF | Jocelyn Angloma | L'Étoile de Morne-à-l'Eau |
| FW | Salva | Bolton Wanderers |
| MF | Dennis Șerban | Córdoba CF |
| DF | Ángel Amarilla | Racing Club |

## Competitions
### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | Deportivo La Coruña | 38 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 67 | 47 | +20 | 72 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Celta Vigo | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 45 | 36 | +9 | 61 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Valencia | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 56 | 35 | +21 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Barcelona | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 63 | 47 | +16 | 56 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 63 | 61 | +2 | 55 | |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | W | D | L | W | D | W | W | L | L | D | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | L | L | D | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | D | L | W |
| Position | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Champions League
#### First group stage
##### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Valencia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 | +13 | 16 | Advance to second group stage |
| 2 | Basel | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 9 | Advance to second group stage |
| 3 | Liverpool | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 8 | Transfer to UEFA Cup |
| 4 | Spartak Moscow | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 18 | −17 | 0 | |

#### Second group stage
##### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Valencia | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Ajax | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 8 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Arsenal | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 7 | |
| 4 | Roma | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 5 | |

#### Quarter-finals
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | Champions League | Champions League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Cañizares | 43 | -39 | 31 | -27 | 0 | 0 | 12 | -12 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Carboni | 41 | 0 | 24+5 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ARG | Ayala | 43 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ARG | Pellegrino | 41 | 1 | 26+2 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Fábio Aurélio | 37 | 10 | 23+4 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 4+4 | 2 |
| 8 | DM | ESP | Baraja | 48 | 9 | 30+5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 |
| 6 | DM | ESP | Albelda | 37 | 0 | 23+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Rufete | 40 | 4 | 26+2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8+3 | 1 |
| 21 | AM | ARG | Aimar | 44 | 11 | 29+2 | 8 | 1+1 | 0 | 10+1 | 3 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Vicente | 39 | 1 | 26+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | NOR | Carew | 46 | 13 | 25+7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 12+1 | 5 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Palop | 14 | -11 | 7+2 | -8 | 2 | -3 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Marchena | 37 | 0 | 22+4 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 4+5 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | ESP | Angulo | 37 | 6 | 15+9 | 4 | 1+1 | 0 | 6+5 | 2 |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Mista | 39 | 11 | 10+17 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3+8 | 2 |
| 11 | FW | ESP | Juan Sánchez | 36 | 9 | 9+17 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5+4 | 3 |
| 17 | MF | FRA | Réveillère | 24 | 1 | 17+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | URU | de los Santos | 23 | 1 | 11+6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ESP | Curro Torres | 22 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | SCG | Djukic | 10 | 0 | 6+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ARG | Kily González | 20 | 1 | 4+9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4+2 | 1 |
| 34 | MF | ESP | Garrido | 9 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | ESP | Navarro | 6 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | ESP | Borja | 4 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Salva | 4 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | ESP | Enguix | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | ESP | Gavilán | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | FRA | Dorothée | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | ESP | Albiol | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | ESP | Redondo | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 40 | DF | ESP | Soriano | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | ROU | Șerban |
| 28 | GK | ESP | Rángel |
| | DF | PAR | Ángel Amarilla |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t2002-0336.html