# 1995–96 Valencia CF season

During the 1995–96 Spanish football season, Valencia CF competed in La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

## Summary

During summer the club appointed Luis Aragonés as its new manager. In the 1995–96 La Liga Valencia were involved in a title race for the first time since the late 1970s.
After a series of impressive performances, stretching from January to March the club reached the second place of the table with a 4–1 victory over Cruijff' FC Barcelona. On 11 March 1996 club star and Forward Predrag Mijatovic signed an agreement with Real Madrid for a upcoming season (1996-97) contract. During April their league form faltered, and the title challenge looked over. However the club managed to re-establish itself back at the top in May. An emphatic 2–3 defeat of Atlético de Madrid at Vicente Calderón Stadium in April was the team's signature performance.
The club's fanbase and the entire province paid tribute to the squad regardless of their failure to win the trophy.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
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 | Andoni Zubizarreta |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Vicente Engonga |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Jorge Otero |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Francisco José Camarasa (captain) |
| 5 | MF | BRA | Mazinho |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Gaizka Mendieta |
| 7 | FW | ESP | Sietes |
| 8 | FW | YUG | Predrag Mijatović |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Viola |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Fernando Gomez |
| 11 | MF | ESP | Antonio Poyatos |
| 12 | MF | ESP | Xabier Eskurza |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Jorge Bartual |
| 14 | MF | ESP | José Ignacio Saenz |
| 15 | MF | ESP | Patxi Ferreira |
| 16 | MF | ESP | Francisco Muedra |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Iñaki Hurtado |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Carlos Arroyo |
| 19 | DF | ESP | Javi Navarro |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Pepe Serer |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Enrique Romero |
| 22 | FW | ESP | José Galvez Estevez |
| 23 | FW | ESP | Luciano Alkorta |
| 26 | FW | ESP | Raúl Martínez |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| FW | Viola | Corinthians |
| MF | José Ignacio Sáenz | Logroñés |
| DF | Patxi Ferreira | Atlético Madrid |
| DF | Sietes | Real Oviedo |
| DF | Xabier Eskurza | FC Barcelona |
| MF | Iñaki Hurtado | Real Valladolid |
| DF | Iván Campo | Deportivo Alavés |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Luboslav Penev | Atlético Madrid | |
| GK | José Molina | Atlético Madrid | |
| FW | Oleg Salenko | Glasgow Rangers | |
| DF | Fernando Giner | Sporting Gijón | |
| MF | Robert | Villarreal | |
| DF | Álvaro Cervera | Racing Santander | |
| MF | Juan Carlos | Real Valladolid | |
| DF | Eloy | Sporting Gijón | |
| MF | Maqueda | Albacete Balompié | |
| DF | Raúl Ibañez | Real Valladolid | |
| DF | Quique Medina | Deportivo Alavés | |
| DF | Iván Campo | Real Valladolid | loan |
Source: BDFutbol.com

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Atlético Madrid (C) | 42 | 26 | 9 | 7 | 75 | 32 | +43 | 87 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Valencia | 42 | 26 | 5 | 11 | 77 | 51 | +26 | 83 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Barcelona | 42 | 22 | 14 | 6 | 72 | 39 | +33 | 80 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 4 | Espanyol | 42 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 63 | 36 | +27 | 74 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Tenerife | 42 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 69 | 54 | +15 | 72 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
* ↑ Since Atlético Madrid, winners of 1995–96 Copa del Rey, was qualified for the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists Barcelona earned a spot in the first round of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

#### Position 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 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | W | W | D | L | W | W | D | L | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | L | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | D |
| Position | 19 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches

Source: Competitive Matches

### Copa del Rey
#### Semifinals
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Andoni Zubizarreta | 47 | -52 | 39 | -44 | 8 | -8 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Jorge Otero | 44 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Paco Camarasa | 48 | 2 | 39 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Vicente Engonga | 33 | 0 | 19+6 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Enrique Romero | 39 | 1 | 29+1 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Gaizka Mendieta | 42 | 0 | 30+4 | 0 | 7+1 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | BRA | Mazinho | 50 | 0 | 39+1 | 0 | 9+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Fernando Gomez | 51 | 13 | 42 | 10 | 9 | 3 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | José Ignacio | 33 | 0 | 21+6 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| 8 | FW | YUG | Predrag Mijatović | 49 | 34 | 40 | 28 | 9 | 6 |
| 22 | FW | ESP | Pepe Gálvez | 37 | 13 | 27+1 | 11 | 7+2 | 2 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Jorge Bartual | 6 | -8 | 3+1 | -7 | 2 | -1 |
| 11 | MF | ESP | Antonio Poyatos | 41 | 5 | 19+13 | 5 | 4+5 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ESP | Patxi Ferreira | 27 | 0 | 17+7 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Viola | 37 | 12 | 15+15 | 11 | 5+2 | 1 |
| 19 | DF | ESP | Javi Navarro | 25 | 0 | 15+4 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | ESP | Sietes | 25 | 0 | 13+7 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | ESP | Xabier Eskurza | 31 | 1 | 11+16 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Carlos Arroyo | 36 | 7 | 6+24 | 6 | 2+4 | 1 |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Iñaki Hurtado | 15 | 0 | 1+10 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Pepe Serer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | FW | ESP | Raul Martinez | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1995-9636.html