During the 1999–2000 Spanish football season, Valencia competed in La Liga.
Season summary
During Spring of 1999, after rumours of Claudio Ranieri being linked to Atlético Madrid the club agreed to replace the Italian head coach for the upcoming season, the final choices were Radomir Antić from Atlético Madrid with a contract until 2000 with colchoneros and Argentine Héctor Cúper from Mallorca for free in June and whom, finally, was appointed as new manager. Valencia emerged as a world football heavyweight after reaching the Champions League final. New coach Héctor Cúper focused heavily on making the defence invincible, although, despite the general perception of a much more defensive Valencia, they actually conceded the same number of league goals as they had under previous coach Claudio Ranieri. Among the key players were playmaker Gaizka Mendieta (voted as the best midfielder in the Champions League), fellow midfielder Gerard, goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares, winger Javier Farinós and striker Claudio López, who was sold to Lazio at the end of the season. Lazio had been Valencia's opponents in the quarter-final of the Champions League, which resulted in a 5–2 victory for Valencia against the eventual Italian champions. Gerard was also sold to the team that had nurtured him, Barcelona, for £15 million. Barcelona had been Valencia's opponents in the semi-finals, and had been crushed 4–1 away. A 2–1 defeat at the Camp Nou still saw Valencia progress to the final at the Stade de France, where they came up against Real Madrid in the first ever all-Spanish final of the competition. Valencia's dreams were shattered by a clear 3–0 defeat.
Squad
Transfers In Pos. Name from TypeFW Juan Sánchez Celta Vigo €4.2 million DF Mauricio Pellegrino Velez Sarsfield €1.2 millionMF Kily González Real Zaragoza €2.5 million MF Gerard López Alavés loan endedGK Andrés Palop Villarreal Free MF David Albelda Villarreal loan endedFW Óscar Barcelona Free MF Gerardo Villarreal DF Fagiani Newell's Old Boys €1.8 million Out Pos. Name To Type MF Stefan Schwarz Sunderland €6.0 million DF Juanfran Celta Vigo €2.0 million MF Gabriel Popescu Numancia FW Cristiano Lucarelli Lecce FW Rubén Navarro Numancia DF Óscar Téllez Alavés FW Sabin Ilie National Bucuresti loan FW Nicolás Olivera Sevilla DF Curro Torres Recreativo loan
Winter In Pos. Name from Type Out Pos. Name To TypeDFFrancisco CamarasaValencia BDFMiguel Ángel SoriaNumancialoanMFDennis SerbanVillarrealloan
Competitions La Liga
League table
Results by round
Matches
Copa del Rey
Second round
UEFA Champions League
Third qualifying round
First Group Stage
Group F
Second Group Stage
Group B
Knockout stage
Quarter-final
Semi-final
Final
Statistics Player statistics
References