# 1996–97 Valencia CF season

During the 1996–97 season Valencia CF competed in La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup.

## Summary

During summer the club transferred in several players such as 1994 FIFA World Cup Winner Romário on loan from FC Barcelona, Forward Claudio López, centre back Defender Fernando Cáceres, Brazilian midfielder Leandro Machado and Croatian Striker Goran Vlaović from Padova Calcio in an attempt to replace the sale of Predrag Mijatović to Real Madrid. The purchase of Romário was controversial after several disputes between the Brazilian star and Luis Aragonés upon October when the forward finished his agreement and left the club to return to Flamengo. On 19 November 1996 after a bad streak of results and controversies with President, Luis Aragonés renounces as coach. Then, the club appointed Jorge Valdano as its new manager for the rest of the season.
In League, the team collapsed to the 10th spot getting out of the Continental competitions next year. Also, in Copa del Rey the squad was eliminated in Eightfinals by underdogs Segunda División team UD Las Palmas after two legs and a penalties series. Finally, the club was defeated by Schalke 04 in UEFA Cup Quarterfinals stage with a 1–3 score.

## 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 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Gaizka Mendieta |
| 7 | FW | ESP | Sietes |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Fernando Gomez |
| 11 | MF | ESP | Antonio Poyatos |
| 12 | MF | ESP | Xabier Eskurza |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Jorge Bartual |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Jose Ignacio Saenz |
| 15 | MF | ESP | Patxi Ferreira |
| 16 | MF | ESP | Francisco Muedra |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Iñaki Hurtado |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | DF | ESP | Javi Navarro |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Enrique Romero |
| 23 | FW | ESP | Luciano Alkorta |
| 26 | FW | ESP | Raúl Martínez |
| — | FW | BRA | Romário |
| — | FW | ARG | Claudio López |
| — | DF | ARG | Fernando Cáceres |
| — | MF | RUS | Valeri Karpin |
| — | FW | ESP | Gabriel Moya |
| — | FW | CRO | Goran Vlaović |
| — | MF | BRA | Leandro Machado |
| — | DF | ESP | Iván Campo |
| — | FW | ARG | Ariel Ortega |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Romário | FC Barcelona | loan |
| FW | Claudio López | Racing Club | |
| MF | Valeri Karpin | Real Sociedad | |
| FW | Gabriel Moya | Sevilla CF | |
| FW | Goran Vlaović | Padova Calcio | |
| DF | Iván Campo | Real Valladolid | loan ended |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Predrag Mijatović | Real Madrid | |
| MF | Mazinho | Celta Vigo | |
| FW | Viola | Palmeiras | |
| MF | Carlos Arroyo | Villarreal CF | |
| FW | Serer | Villarreal CF | |
| FW | José Gálvez Estévez | RCD Mallorca | loan |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| DF | Fernando Cáceres | Real Zaragoza |
| MF | Leandro | SC Internacional |
| MF | Ariel Ortega | River Plate |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Romário | CR Flamengo | loan |
Source: BDFutbol.com

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 8 | Real Sociedad | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 50 | 47 | +3 | 63 |
| 9 | Tenerife | 42 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 69 | 57 | +12 | 56 |
| 10 | Valencia | 42 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 63 | 59 | +4 | 56 |
| 11 | Compostela | 42 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 52 | 65 | −13 | 53 |
| 12 | Espanyol | 42 | 14 | 9 | 19 | 51 | 57 | −6 | 51 |
* 1 2 VAL 2–1 TEN; TEN 2–1 VAL

#### 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 | L | D | W | W | L | W | W | W | L | L | L | D | L | W | L | W | D | W | L | D | D | W | D | L | W | L | W | W | L | D | L | W | L | D | D | D | W | D | L | W | L |
| Position | 14 | 20 | 21 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 |

#### Matches

Source: Competitive Matches

### UEFA Cup
#### Round of 64
#### Quarterfinals
## 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 | Zubizarreta | 49 | -62 | 41 | -56 | 2 | -2 | 6 | -4 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Otero | 30 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ESP | Ferreira | 44 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 0+1 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Engonga | 44 | 3 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Romero | 40 | 2 | 31 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Mendieta | 36 | 1 | 22+8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | RUS | Karpin | 46 | 6 | 35+1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Fernando | 36 | 1 | 21+8 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | José Ignacio | 42 | 1 | 27+7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 |
| 8 | FW | ESP | Moya | 44 | 9 | 30+5 | 7 | 1+1 | 0 | 5+2 | 2 |
| 16 | FW | ARG | Claudio | 40 | 5 | 23+9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Bartual | 5 | -6 | 1+1 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | -3 |
| 24 | DF | ARG | Cáceres | 26 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | ESP | Eskurza | 28 | 1 | 16+9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Vlaović | 31 | 10 | 16+8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2+5 | 2 |
| 9 | MF | BRA | Leandro | 27 | 10 | 16+7 | 8 | 1+1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | ESP | Farinos | 19 | 1 | 15+3 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | ESP | Poyatos | 27 | 2 | 10+10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6+1 | 1 |
| | FW | ARG | Ortega | 12 | 7 | 12 | 7 |
| 22 | MF | ESP | Gálvez | 25 | 4 | 5+14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Javi Navarro | 14 | 0 | 5+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Hurtado | 18 | 1 | 0+14 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | ESP | Sietes | 11 | 0 | 4+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Iván Campo | 9 | 1 | 2+5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Romário | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Camarasa | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | ESP | Navarro | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | ESP | Lopez | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 26 | FW | ESP | Raúl Martínez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1996-9736.html