# 1996–97 Atlético Madrid season

The 1996–1997 campaign was the 91st season in Atlético Madrid's history and their 62nd season in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football.

## 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 | José Francisco Molina |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Pablo Alfaro |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Toni |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Roberto Solozábal (captain) |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Juan Manuel López |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Santi |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Leonardo Biagini |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Juan Vizcaíno |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Juan Esnáider |
| 10 | MF | YUG | Milinko Pantić |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Ricardo |
| 14 | MF | ARG | Diego Simeone |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Juan Carlos |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Roberto |
| 19 | FW | ESP | Kiko |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Delfí Geli |
| 21 | MF | ESP | José Luis Caminero |
| 23 | DF | ROU | Daniel Prodan |
| 24 | MF | CZE | Radek Bejbl |
| 26 | MF | RSA | Quinton Fortune |
| 27 | MF | YUG | Veljko Paunović |
| 28 | FW | ESP | Santiago Ezquerro |
| 29 | MF | YUG | Đorđe Tomić |
| 30 | MF | ESP | Ivo |
| 31 | FW | ESP | Yordi |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| FW | Juan Esnaider | Real Madrid |
| MF | Radek Bejbl | Slavia Praha |
| DF | Carlos Aguilera | CD Tenerife |
| MF | Pablo Alfaro | Racing Santander |
| MF | Veljko Paunovic | Marbella |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Lyuboslav Penev | SD Compostella | |
| FW | Fernando Correa | Sevilla FC | loan |
| MF | José de la Sagra | FC Barcelona B | |
| DF | Tomás Reñones | CA Marbella | |
| MF | Pirri | SD Compostela | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| DF | Daniel Prodan | Steaua București |
| FW | Yordi | Sevilla FC |
| DF | Đorđe Tomić | Guingamp |
| FW | Santiago Ezquerro | Osasuna |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Ivan Rocha | CD Logroñes | loan |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | Deportivo La Coruña | 42 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 57 | 30 | +27 | 77 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Real Betis | 42 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 81 | 46 | +35 | 77 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 5 | Atlético Madrid | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 76 | 64 | +12 | 71 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Athletic Bilbao | 42 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 72 | 57 | +15 | 64 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Valladolid | 42 | 18 | 10 | 14 | 57 | 46 | +11 | 64 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
* 1 2 BET 1–2 DEP; DEP 3–0 BET
* ↑ Since Barcelona, winners of 1996–97 Copa del Rey, was qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists Real Betis earned a spot in the first round of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
* 1 2 VLD 0–0 ATH; ATH 0–0 VLD

#### 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 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | W | L | L | W | W | D | D | L | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | L | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | L | W | W | L | L | D | W | D | W | W | D | D | W | L | L |
| Position | 4 | 9 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |

#### Matches
### Copa del Rey

Round of 16
Quarterfinals

### 1996–97 UEFA Champions League

Group phase- Group B
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ATM | DOR | WID | STE |
| 1 | Atlético Madrid | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 13 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 13 | Advance to knockout stage | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | 5–3 |
| 3 | Widzew Łódź | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 4 | | 1–4 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 |
| 4 | Steaua București | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15 | −10 | 4 | | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — |
Quarterfinals

## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | UEFA Champions League | UEFA Champions League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Molina | 53 | -79 | 41 | -62 | 4 | -9 | 8 | -8 |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Geli | 40 | 1 | 29+1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Solozabal | 39 | 0 | 27+3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Santi | 47 | 2 | 36+1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Toni | 43 | 2 | 34 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | YUG | Pantic | 48 | 14 | 37 | 5 | 2+1 | 4 | 8 | 5 |
| 14 | MF | ARG | Simeone | 41 | 7 | 30+1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 4 |
| 24 | MF | CZE | Bejbl | 45 | 2 | 29+4 | 2 | 3+1 | 0 | 7+1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Caminero | 38 | 15 | 27+3 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ESP | Kiko | 47 | 18 | 36 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Esnaider | 45 | 19 | 34+1 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Ricardo | 1 | -2 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ESP | Carlos Aguilera | 43 | 2 | 21+10 | 2 | 3+1 | 0 | 5+3 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Vizcaino | 33 | 2 | 17+11 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ROU | Prodan | 19 | 4 | 16+1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Juanma López | 34 | 1 | 11+14 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1+6 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Roberto | 32 | 3 | 8+19 | 2 | 1+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 27 | MF | YUG | Paunovic | 20 | 1 | 8+8 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Biagini | 27 | 2 | 7+15 | 1 | 1+2 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | ESP | Juan Carlos | 24 | 3 | 5+15 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Pablo Alfaro | 17 | 0 | 5+6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 28 | FW | ESP | Ezquerro | 4 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | ESP | Ivo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | RSA | Fortune | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | YUG | Tomic | 3 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 31 | FW | ESP | Yordi | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/es/t/t1996-977.html

### Top scorers

| Rank | Position | Number | Player | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Supercopa de España | UEFA Champions League | Total |
| 1 | FW | 9 | Juan Esnáider | 16 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 21 |
| 2 | FW | 19 | Kiko | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | MF | 10 | Milinko Pantić | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 16 |
| 4 | MF | 21 | José Luis Caminero | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 5 | MF | 14 | Diego Simeone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | DF | 23 | Daniel Prodan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | FW | 17 | Juan Carlos Gómez | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | MF | 18 | Roberto Fresnedoso | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | DF | 3 | Toni Muñoz | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 5 | Juanma López | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 6 | Santi Denia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | 7 | Leonardo Biagini | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | MF | 8 | Juan Vizcaíno | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 15 | Aguilera | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 24 | Radek Bejbl | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | DF | 20 | Delfí Geli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | MF | 27 | Veljko Paunović | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 76 | 11 | 5 | 15 | 107 |