# 2003–04 Valencia CF season

During the 2003–04 Spanish football season, Valencia CF won the double of La Liga and the UEFA Cup. At the end of the season, manager Rafael Benítez left to manage English side Liverpool and was succeeded by former Chelsea, Fiorentina and Valencia manager Claudio Ranieri.
Valencia CF enjoyed a marvellous season by winning the La Liga and UEFA Cup double. The key players of the squad were Mista, Vicente Rodríguez, Francisco Rufete, David Albelda, Roberto Ayala, Fábio Aurélio, Amedeo Carboni and Mauricio Pellegrino. Valencia CF started the league well in the early season but slumped in the mid-season and later made a remarkable comeback (remontada) in April and May thanks to Real Madrid's several slips. Valencia CF were on course for their first-treble winning season, however, Valencia were eliminated by eventual Copa del Rey runners-up Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and thus denying them a season treble.

## Overview

| Competition | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Result | Top Scorer |
| Competition | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | Result | Top Scorer |
| La Liga | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 71 | 27 | +44 | 060.53 | Winners | Mista, 19 |
| Copa del Rey | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 050.00 | Quarter-finals | Rubén Baraja, 3 |
| UEFA Cup | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 5 | +15 | 076.92 | Winners | Mista, 5 |
| Total | 57 | 36 | 11 | 10 | 101 | 40 | +61 | 063.16 | | Mista, 24 |

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. 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 | ESP | Carlos Marchena |
| 6 | MF | ESP | David Albelda |
| 7 | FW | BRA | Ricardo Oliveira |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Rubén Baraja |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Miguel Ángel Angulo |
| 11 | FW | ESP | Juan Sánchez |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Javier Garrido |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Andrés Palop |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Vicente |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Amedeo Carboni |
| 16 | MF | URU | Fabián Canobbio |
| 17 | DF | ESP | David Navarro |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Jorge López |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Francisco Rufete |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Mista |
| 21 | MF | ARG | Pablo Aimar |
| 23 | DF | ESP | Curro Torres |
| 24 | MF | ESP | Xisco |
| 25 | MF | MLI | Mohamed Sissoko |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Jaime Gavilán |
| 28 | GK | ESP | David Rangel |
| 29 | FW | ESP | Borja Criado |
| 31 | DF | ESP | Vicente Verdejo |
| 33 | GK | ESP | Jonathan |
| 35 | DF | PAR | Ángel Amarilla |
| 36 | DF | FRA | Jean-Félix Dorothée |
| 38 | MF | ESP | César Soriano |
| 39 | DF | ESP | Raúl Albiol |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Ricardo Oliveira | Santos FC | €3,50 million |
| MF | Jorge López | Villarreal CF | €4,00 million |
| MF | Mohamed Sissoko | AJ Auxerre | €1,00 million |
| MF | Xisco | Recreativo Huelva | loan ended |
| AM | Fabián Canobbio | CA Peñarol | Free |
| DF | Raul Albiol | Valencia B | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | John Carew | AS Roma | loan |
| MF | Kily González | Internazionale | €2,5 million |
| FW | Salva | Málaga CF | loan |
| DF | Miroslav Đukić | CD Tenerife | Free |
| DF | Anthony Réveillère | Olympique Lyonnais | loan ended |
| DF | Jean-Félix Dorothée | Valencia B | |
| MF | Dennis Șerban | Polideportivo Ejido | end of contract |
| MF | Gonzalo de los Santos | Atlético Madrid | loan |
| DF | Raul Albiol | Recreativo Huelva | loan |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Valencia (C) | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 71 | 27 | +44 | 77 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Barcelona | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 63 | 39 | +24 | 72 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Deportivo La Coruña | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 60 | 34 | +26 | 71 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Real Madrid | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 72 | 54 | +18 | 70 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 53 | 49 | +4 | 56 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |

#### 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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | D | W | L | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | D | L | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | L | L |
| Position | 10 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

#### Matches

All kickoff times are in CET/CEST.  Win  Draw  Loss

### UEFA Cup
#### First round
#### Final
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | UEFA Cup | UEFA Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Cañizares | 44 | -27 | 37 | -25 | 0 | 0 | 7 | -2 |
| 23 | DF | GER | Curro Torres | 39 | 1 | 28+1 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 7+1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ARG | Ayala | 45 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Marchena | 44 | 2 | 28+3 | 2 | 4+1 | 0 | 6+2 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Carboni | 48 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ESP | López | 30 | 4 | 23+3 | 4 | 0+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Albelda | 44 | 2 | 32+1 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Baraja | 52 | 13 | 29+6 | 8 | 5+1 | 3 | 10+1 | 2 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Vicente | 44 | 15 | 32+1 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 4+3 | 2 |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Mista | 46 | 24 | 29+4 | 19 | 3+1 | 0 | 6+3 | 5 |
| 7 | FW | BRA | Oliveira | 30 | 9 | 14+7 | 8 | 2+1 | 0 | 5+1 | 1 |
| 28 | GK | ESP | Rangel | 1 | -2 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ARG | Aimar | 38 | 4 | 18+7 | 4 | 3+2 | 0 | 5+3 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Rufete | 43 | 5 | 15+12 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8+3 | 2 |
| 2 | DF | ARG | Pellegrino | 32 | 3 | 17+4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6+2 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | ESP | Angulo | 36 | 5 | 12+10 | 2 | 4+1 | 1 | 7+2 | 2 |
| 25 | MF | MLI | Sissoko | 34 | 1 | 9+12 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 7+2 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Garrido | 31 | 2 | 13+2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 9+1 | 1 |
| 24 | MF | ESP | Xisco | 33 | 3 | 5+17 | 1 | 1+2 | 2 | 6+2 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | ESP | Navarro | 20 | 1 | 7+5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 16 | MF | URU | Cannobio | 23 | 3 | 3+8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6+4 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | ESP | Sánchez | 17 | 2 | 3+7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4+2 | 1 |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Fábio Aurélio | 4 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Palop | 12 | -11 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -8 | 6 | -3 |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Gavilan |
| 29 | FW | ESP | Criado |
| 31 | DF | ESP | Verdejo |
| 33 | GK | ESP | Jonathan |
| 35 | DF | PAR | Amarilla |
| 36 | DF | FRA | Dorothée |
| 38 | MF | ESP | Soriano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | ESP | Albiol | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t2003-0436.html?tab=partits