# 1999–2000 Valencia CF season

During the 1999–2000 Spanish football season, Valencia competed in La Liga.

## Season summary

During Spring of 1999, after rumours of Claudio Ranieri being linked to Atlético Madrid the club agreed to replace the Italian head coach for the upcoming season, the final choices were Radomir Antić from Atlético Madrid with a contract until 2000 with colchoneros and Argentine Héctor Cúper from RCD Mallorca free in June and whom, finally, was appointed as new manager. 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 number of league goals as they had under previous coach Claudio Ranieri. Among the key players were playmaker Gaizka Mendieta (voted as the best midfielder in the Champions League), fellow midfielder Gerard, goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares, winger Javier Farinós and striker Claudio López, who was sold to Lazio at 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 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 | SWE | Joachim Björklund |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Javier Navarro |
| 5 | DF | SRB | Miroslav Đukić |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Gaizka Mendieta |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Claudio López |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Javier Farinós |
| 9 | MF | ESP | Óscar |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Angulo |
| 11 | FW | ROU | Adrian Ilie |
| 12 | MF | ESP | Jandro |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Jorge Bartual |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Gerard |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Amedeo Carboni |
| 16 | DF | FRA | Alain Roche |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Juan Sánchez |
| 18 | FW | ARG | Kily González |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Goran Vlaović |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Jocelyn Angloma |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Milla |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Gerardo |
| 23 | MF | ESP | David Albelda |
| 24 | DF | ARG | Daniel Fagiani |
| 25 | GK | ESP | Andrés Palop |
| 27 | MF | ESP | Curro Torres |
| 29 | GK | ESP | Jonathan López |
| 37 | MF | ESP | Alex Pascual |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Juan Sánchez | Celta Vigo | €4.2 million |
| DF | Mauricio Pellegrino | Velez Sarsfield | €1.2 million |
| MF | Kily González | Real Zaragoza | €2.5 million |
| MF | Gerard López | Deportivo Alavés | loan ended |
| GK | Andrés Palop | Villarreal CF | Free |
| MF | David Albelda | Villarreal CF | loan ended |
| FW | Óscar | FC Barcelona | Free |
| MF | Gerardo | Villarreal CF | |
| DF | Fagiani | Newell's Old Boys | €1.8 million |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | Stefan Schwarz | Sunderland | €6.0 million |
| DF | Juanfran | Celta Vigo | €2.0 million |
| MF | Gabriel Popescu | Numancia | |
| FW | Cristiano Lucarelli | Lecce | |
| FW | Rubén Navarro | Numancia | |
| DF | Óscar Téllez | Deportivo Alavés | |
| FW | Sabin Ilie | National Bucuresti | loan |
| FW | Nicolás Olivera | Sevilla CF | |
| DF | Curro Torres | Recreativo Huelva | loan |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Francisco Camarasa | Valencia B | |
| DF | Miguel Ángel Soria | Numancia | loan |
| MF | Dennis Serban | Villarreal | loan |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Deportivo La Coruña (C) | 38 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 66 | 44 | +22 | 69 | Qualification for the Club World Cup |
| 2 | Barcelona | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 70 | 46 | +24 | 64 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Valencia | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 59 | 39 | +20 | 64 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Zaragoza | 38 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 60 | 40 | +20 | 63 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Real Madrid | 38 | 16 | 14 | 8 | 58 | 48 | +10 | 62 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
* ↑ Deportivo La Coruña also qualified for the Champions League group stage.
* 1 2 VAL 3–1 BAR; BAR 3–0 VAL
* 1 2 Real Madrid qualified directly for the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League as holders. As a result, Zaragoza lost their spot in the UEFA Champions League and had to participate in the UEFA Cup.

#### 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | L | L | L | D | W | W | L | W | D | L | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | L | D | L | W | W | D | D | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | D | W |
| Position | 13 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 |

#### Matches
### Copa del Rey

Eightfinals

### UEFA Champions League
#### First Group Stage
##### Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | VAL | BAY | RAN | PSV |
| 1 | Valencia | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 12 | Advance to second group stage | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Bayern Munich | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 9 | Advance to second group stage | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Rangers | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | Transfer to UEFA Cup | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 4–1 |
| 4 | PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 4 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | — |

#### Second Group Stage
##### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MUN | VAL | FIO | BOR |
| 1 | Manchester United | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 13 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Valencia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| 3 | Fiorentina | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 8 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 3–3 |
| 4 | Bordeaux | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 2 | | 1–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | — |

#### Final
## Statistics
### Player 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 | Santiago Cañizares | 38 | -40 | 23 | -26 | 2 | -3 | 13 | -11 |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Jocelyn Angloma | 46 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCG | Miroslav Đukić | 51 | 1 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15+1 | 1 |
| 2 | DF | ARG | Mauricio Pellegrino | 50 | 1 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Amedeo Carboni | 44 | 1 | 27+1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Gaizka Mendieta | 51 | 19 | 31+2 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 5 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Javier Farinós | 53 | 8 | 25+9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 14+3 | 2 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Gerard López | 52 | 8 | 32+1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 16+2 | 4 |
| 18 | MF | ARG | Kily González | 49 | 6 | 28+3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16+1 | 4 |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Juan Sánchez | 49 | 8 | 23+9 | 5 | 1+1 | 0 | 8+7 | 3 |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Claudio López | 54 | 17 | 32+2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 6 |
| 25 | GK | ESP | Andrés Palop | 22 | -20 | 15 | -13 | 0 | 0 | 6+1 | -7 |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Miguel Angulo | 48 | 8 | 19+10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11+7 | 3 |
| 11 | FW | ROU | Adrian Ilie | 35 | 8 | 15+7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7+5 | 3 |
| 3 | DF | SWE | Joachim Björklund | 34 | 0 | 14+9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | ESP | David Albelda | 33 | 0 | 14+7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7+4 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Milla | 14 | 0 | 9+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Gerardo | 13 | 0 | 5+5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | ARG | Daniel Fagiani | 11 | 0 | 5+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | AM | ESP | Óscar | 29 | 4 | 3+17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1+7 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Soria | 4 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | FRA | Alain Roche | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Goran Vlaović | 7 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | ROU | Dennis Serban | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Jorge Bartual | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | ESP | Curro Montoya |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1999-0036.html