1998/99.- Atlético Madrid 0 Vs Valencia CF 3 (Final Copa del Rey)

The longest season

THE LONGEST SEASON

Valencia squad celebrating the Copa del Rey

1998-99 season will always be remembered by Valencia CF fans due to several facts: during the season, the stadium fences were removed, it was the last season that the players wore black socks and, of course, it was the season in which the team won the first trophy since the European Supercup in 1981: the Copa del Rey. For many fans, it meant the first title that they witnessed in their lives. But the season was hard and, above all, very long. 64 games divided among La Liga, Copa del Rey, UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup and several friendlies.

The season began sooner than expected, in the beginning of July 1998, because Valencia CF had to qualify for the UEFA Cup via Intertoto Cup, the last chance that UEFA gave the clubs to get a spot in that competition if they hadn’t taken care of business in the previous season in their leagues.

The previous season had been a little tumultuous. Jorge Valdano got fired in game 3 after three losses and also due to a stupid mistake in Santander, when he introduced four non-EU men in the pitch, when only three were allowed. There also was a radical style change with his substitute, the Italian Claudio Ranieri, from a more creative one that Valdano displayed to the defensive and intense one that Ranieri used. Most of the players that had been signed in the summer had ended up being a terrible fiasco, as was the case of Moussa Saïb, Marcelinho Carioca, Morigi, Campagnuolo or Del Solar; apart from that, the club failed in rehabbing Romário for the second time. And last, but not least, the president Paco Roig resigned from his position, being replaced by his advisor Pedro Cortés.

The team ended the season 9th in the standings, four points shy from a UEFA Cup spot. Still, the team showed some good performances in the second half of the season: the team won at the Bernabeu and Camp Nou (this one was epic), there was a newcomer player who performed at a world class level, the Romanian Adrian Ilie, the Argentinean Claudio López had an exciting progression and a box-to-box player who had spent the previous five years unnoticed finally exploded: Gaizka Mendieta. Apart from that, there was a veteran core that sustained the team, such as Carboni, Angloma, Djukic and Milla.

Ilie after scoring a goal against Steaua Bucharest

Therefore, Valencia CF had to do their homework in July and signed a bunch of players to achieve their goal. The club acquired an Italian classic forward, Cristiano Lucarelli, from Atalanta, who didn’t succeed at Mestalla despite being the top scorer of Serie A with Livorno a few years later. They also signed a central defender from PSG, who played outstandingly, the former French international Alain Roche. A couple of Romanian players were signed, too, one of them having played a fantastic season for UD Salamanca the previous year and who also participated in the 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France: Gabi Popescu; the other Romanian player was a strange signing since, from the very moment he was presented as a new Valencia CF player, he showed no talent at all, unable to do three douches in a row with the ball in his feet, but he was the brother of one of the stars of the team: Sabin Ilie, Adrian’s brother, who was told he was the better of the both; he spent a few months and didn’t play a single minute for the club. Two Swedish players landed in Valencia in that summer, who had optimal performances: the long range shooting specialist Stefan Schwarz and the sober-minded central defender Joachim Björklund, the latter being an important asset for the team in the following three years. Téllez was also another new signing, a robust defender from Alavés, who only played one game for Valencia CF. More onwards, in the winter transfer window, Valencia CF signed another Romanian, Dennis Serban, who was unsuccessful at Mestalla. But the best signing of the season was that of goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares, who replaced retired Andoni Zubizarreta; he came as a free agent from Real Madrid and his story with Valencia CF is well known in his ten year spell at the club.

Even so, as some of the new signings hadn’t lived up to the expectations, most of the players who already were in the roster had to step up and progress the way they were expected to. There was a lot of excitement among fans, so much that president Pedro Cortés, in the team’s presentation before the supporters, asserted that the Geperudeta  (the Virgin of Desamparados, the patron saint of the city) had told him that the team would win a trophy that season.

The team had a good start in the Intertoto Cup. Fortunately, as he had a long ban in La Liga which meant that he couldn’t play the first five games of the competition, Claudio López didn’t go on holidays after finishing his participation with the Argentinean national team in the World Cup; he went straight to practise to help the team qualify for the UEFA Cup. Valencia CF knocked out Shinnik Yaroslavl, a weak Russian team, playing their away game at a stadium that was more like a swimming pool, with Mendieta requiring help from a teammate to be able to kick a corner, a funny image. They also won Marcelo Bielsa’s RCD Espanyol, full of youngsters from their youth system, among which future stars could be found: Capdevila, Tamudo or Sergio González. Valencia CF finally won the final against Casino Salzburg (currently known as Red Bull Salzburg).

Valencia CF seemed to be working well and was fully fit to start La Liga season solidly. Besides, there was an extra motivation that year: that was the first season in which the top 4 of La Liga would get a spot for the following Champions League and the team looked a good contender and one of the favorites.

Ranieri’s playing style was pretty simple and Italian-like: strong defense, playing with three central defenders and two wings in some games and a powerful counterattack, exploiting Claudio López’s speed and Ilie’s talent. It was a style the team felt comfortable with when they played against big clubs who had to control the games, but the team suffered against weaker teams who used a more defensive style.

Valencia CF started the season at home against a difficult team, who had spent a lot of money in new signings, Arrigo Sacchi’s Atlético Madrid. The team won thanks to a single goal by Miguel Ángel Angulo, which certified the ambition of the team to be in the top positions. But in away games the team seemed to be weak and found it difficult to play well and get results. Claudio López came back from his ban in October, and he did it against his favorite opponent, Louis Van Gaal’s FC Barcelona, at Mestalla, in a game in which a wonderkid made his debut in La Liga for the Catalans: none other than Xavi Hernández. Barça won 1-3, showing that Valencia CF was still a little immature to compete against the previous year’s La Liga champion. But from that game on, the team started to win home and away games, eventually reaching the top 4, which gave a spot for the Champions League.

The team also started the UEFA Cup, thanks to their performance in the Intertoto Cup in July. Their first opponent was Romanian Steaua Bucharest, where the before mentioned Dennis Serban played for. Valencia CF won the tie easily and, in the next round, they would have to play against one of the big clubs in Europe, Liverpool FC. It was a fantastic opportunity to be measured against one of the most attractive and historical teams in Europe. Liverpool FC had very talented players, such as McManaman, Fowler, Ince and the English wonderkid of the time, Michael Owen. The double value of away goals was the only thing that gave Liverpool FC the qualification; Valencia CF was a great competitor but was knocked out without losing any of both legs. The team had to focus on La Liga. 

The progress of the team was so good that, at the end of the first half of the competition and after two wins at RCD Mallorca’s Lluis Sitjar and Atlético Madrid’s Vicente Calderón, Valencia CF could be considered as a solid contender for the lead of La Liga. But a series of unexpected losses moved the team away from the title fight.

In these days, the team started their participation in Copa del Rey. To begin with, there was a regional derby against Levante UD, that was in the third category of Spanish football at those times; Valencia CF had no problems in defeating them. February offered three duels in only ten days against FC Barcelona, since they would be the following opponents in the quarter-finals of Copa del Rey. That time, Valencia CF did compete. And how! A 2-3 win at Camp Nou in the first leg (with a memorable goal by Mendieta after a corner); at Mestalla, Valencia CF certified its qualification by winning 4-3; and a few days later, in their La Liga game, Valencia CF won at Camp Nou again, 2-4 this time. And these results had a common denominator: Claudio López, “el Piojo” (the louse):  six goals in three games. He had taken the measure to Van Gaal who, thanks to his stubbornness, using the same system over and over again, let the Argentinean feel comfortable, and Claudio took advantage from it, destroying Frank de Boer, Abelardo, Sergi and Pellegrino.

Claudio López celebrating a goal against Barcelona

In La Liga, Valencia CF continued its path regularly, with big wins at the previously mentioned Camp Nou, and also at San Mamés in Bilbao, combined with surprising point losses against weaker opponents like Rafa Benítez’s Extremadura.

In June, the team was battling for a Champions League spot and their opponents were RCD Mallorca and Celta Vigo and, in the Copa del Rey semifinals, Valencia CF had to face Real Madrid. The result of that tie is well known, one of the club’s biggest wins against “los merengues”. The final score in the first leg at Mestalla was 6-0 and supporters ended the game comparing Real Madrid with the weak San Marino national team, who had just conceded the same amount of goals in their game against Spain a few days before. The second leg was perfunctory. Atlético Madrid awaited in the final.

Mestalla's scoreboard with the final result of the Copa del Rey game against Real Madrid

Meanwhile, Valencia CF’s qualification for the following season’s Champions League was in jeopardy; the team lost against relegated Tenerife in the penultimate game, so Valencia CF had to depend on others to achieve their purpose. The opponent for that spot was Celta Vigo and Valencia CF had a home game against Héctor Cúper’s astounding RCD Mallorca, who had mathematically qualified for the Champions League. Valencia CF had to win and hope that Celta would lose their home game against Atlético Madrid. And that’s what happened. Valencia CF won their game and Atlético defeated Celta at Balaídos, which gave the “colchoneros” a spot for the following season’s UEFA Cup because, as Valencia CF had qualified for the Champions League, the Copa del Rey runner-up would play the European second most important competition; and, if Valencia CF had failed, the qualified team for the UEFA Cup would have been the 7th in La Liga. Hence, a big party started at Mestalla, with Claudio López running around the stadium with a “senyera” (the Valencian flag) on his shoulders. People thought he was saying goodbye. A lot of big clubs had a serious interest in signing him and Valencia CF had to do their best to keep him. But they did and he stayed for one more season. It was Claudio Ranieri’s farewell, who had decided to leave and sign for Atlético Madrid; the Italian would be replaced, curiously, by Héctor Cúper.

Claudio López, with the "Senyera" on his shoulders

June 26, 1999 was the big day. Valencia CF reached the Copa del Rey final, that would take place at La Cartuja stadium, in Seville. The team arrived stronger than ever and Atlético had serious doubts about their possibilities. Their path in La Liga had been inconsistent. Sacchi had been fired in the middle of the season and had been replaced by Serbian Radomir Antic, and they had finished 13th. Valencia CF showed an amazing superiority from the first to the last minute of the game. Claudio López showed a fantastic form, scoring two wonderful goals, but the star of the game was Gaizka Mendieta. His goal was extraordinary; it can’t be explained with words, considered one of the most beautiful in history. Valencia CF won the game 3-0; twenty years later, the team took the trophy home, and it also had been eighteen years without a title in Valencia. The city of Valencia received their players the way champions deserve. And all that happened a few days shy from the first anniversary of the start of the preseason. A very long, intense season, that allowed Valencia CF to compete against the best and, best of all, it was just a warm-up for all that would happen in the following years.