# 1996–97 Real Zaragoza season

The 1996–97 season was the 62nd season for Real Zaragoza in its history. The club competed in La Liga and Copa del Rey.

## Summary

During summer Alfonso Solans in his 5th season as President, reinforced the squad with several players such as midfielder Kily González and Brazilian centre back Gilmar whom were transferred in from Boca Juniors and Cruzeiro respectively. Also arrived midfielder Vladislav Radimov, Austrian Goalkeeper Otto Konrad, two defenders from Real Madrid left back Miquel Soler and right back Quique Sanchez Flores the latter discarded by Fabio Capello during pre-season. On the contrary striker Sebastian Rambert, midfielder Sergio Berti, centre back Paqui, Goalkeeper Andoni Cedrun (after 12 campaigns), José Aurelio Gay (after 5 years) and Defender Fernando Caceres (after three seasons) all of them left the club. However, in his 6th season as head coach Victor Fernández found a chaotic start of season and after 9 winless matches, left the club after six years on 7 November 1996. President Solans appointed Víctor Espárrago as new manager only to drive the club to relegation zone. Finally, Luis Costa returned back after several years to Zaragoza and the squad avoided the Segunda Division on the final league rounds thanks to decent performances delivered by Gus Poyet, Fernando Morientes, Gustavo Adrián López and Kily González
Meanwhile, in Copa del Rey the club was early eliminated in Third round defeated by Racing Santander.

## 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 | Juanmi |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Alberto Belsué |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Jesús Solana |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Luis Cuartero |
| 5 | MF | ESP | Jesús García Sanjuan |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Xavier Aguado |
| 7 | FW | ESP | Miguel Pardeza |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Santiago Aragon |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Fernando Morientes |
| 10 | FW | ESP | Francisco Higuera |
| 11 | MF | URU | Gustavo Poyet |
| 12 | DF | BRA | Gilmar |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 13 | GK | ESP | José Belman |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Nayim |
| 15 | MF | ESP | Oscar |
| 16 | DF | ESP | Miquel Soler |
| 17 | MF | RUS | Vladislav Radimov |
| 18 | MF | ARG | Kily Gonzalez |
| 19 | FW | ARG | Gustavo Adrián López |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Daniel García Lara |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Ander Garitano |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Quique Sanchez Flores |
| 25 | GK | AUT | Otto Konrad |
| 26 | FW | ESP | Jesús Seba |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| MF | Kily Gonzalez | Boca Juniors |
| DF | Gilmar | Cruzeiro Esporte Clube |
| MF | Ander Garitano | Athletic Bilbao |
| DF | Miquel Soler | Real Madrid |
| DF | Quique Sanchez Flores | Real Madrid |
| MF | Vladislav Radimov | CSKA Moscow |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Fernando Caceres | Valencia CF | |
| GK | Andoni Cedrun | Logroñes CF | |
| DF | Paqui | Hercules CF | |
| MF | Sergio Berti | CA River Plate | |
| FW | Sebastian Rambert | Boca Juniors | loan ended |
| MF | Jose Aurelio Gay | Real Oviedo | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Jesús Seba | Wigan Athletic | |
| GK | Otto Konrad | Austria Salzburg | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 12 | Espanyol | 42 | 14 | 9 | 19 | 51 | 57 | −6 | 51 |
| 13 | Racing Santander | 42 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 52 | 54 | −2 | 50 |
| 14 | Zaragoza | 42 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 58 | 66 | −8 | 50 |
| 15 | Sporting Gijón | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 45 | 63 | −18 | 50 |
| 16 | Celta Vigo | 42 | 12 | 13 | 17 | 51 | 54 | −3 | 49 |
* 1 2 3 RAC: 9 pts; ZAR: 6 pts; SPG: 3 pts

#### 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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | D | W | D | L | L | D | D | L | L | D | L | D | D | D | W | L | L | L | L | D | L | W | W | D | W | L | W | D | W | L | D | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | L | D | L |
| Position | 10 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 14 |

#### Matches
### Copa del Rey
#### Third round
## 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 | Juanmi | 28 | -40 | 23+4 | -40 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Belsue | 37 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | BRA | Gilmar | 23 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Aguado | 41 | 2 | 37 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Solana | 42 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | URU | Poyet | 39 | 14 | 37+1 | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Garitano | 40 | 3 | 32+5 | 3 | 1+2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Aragon | 38 | 3 | 35+1 | 3 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ARG | Kily Gonzalez | 34 | 4 | 27+3 | 3 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Morientes | 40 | 16 | 26+11 | 15 | 2+1 | 1 |
| 19 | FW | ARG | Lopez | 35 | 4 | 31+2 | 4 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 25 | GK | AUT | Konrad | 19 | -26 | 18 | -25 | 1 | -1 |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Dani Garcia | 36 | 6 | 21+12 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | ESP | Higuera | 37 | 7 | 18+16 | 6 | 1+2 | 1 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Cuartero | 20 | 0 | 13+5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | RUS | Radimov | 27 | 2 | 12+13 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | ESP | Soler | 17 | 0 | 10+5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Sanchez Flores | 10 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | ESP | Oscar | 12 | 0 | 6+3 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Nayim | 24 | 2 | 5+16 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | MF | ESP | Garcia Sanjuan | 15 | 0 | 4+8 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | ESP | Pardeza | 11 | 1 | 1+7 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Belman | 3 | -5 | 1 | -3 | 2 | -2 |
| 26 | FW | ESP | Seba | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | DF | ESP | Bosca | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
* Source: BDFutbol