2001–02 Valencia CF season

Valencia CF won their first La Liga title since 1970–71 season, in the first campaign of new trainer Rafael Benítez. The Tenerife recruit had a tough start to his job, with several dropped points and a midfield slot in the beginning of the season, culminating in a disqualification from Copa del Rey for fielding too many non-EU players. Benítez was reported to be near the sack before an away game against Espanyol. With Valencia trailing 2–0 at halftime, the resurgence of the team in the second half allowed the inexperienced coach to keep the job, and it got to be a starting point for a winning streak that eventually saw Valencia claiming the entire league, despite taking only 75 points and scoring a mere 51 goals.

Valencia CF
2001–02 season
PresidentJaime Ortí
ManagerRafael Benítez
StadiumMestalla
La Liga1st
UEFA CupQuarter-final
Copa del ReyFirst round
Top goalscorerRubén Baraja (7)

With the attacking play not flowing as previously, the all-conquering defence improved further, conceding only 29 goals, much thanks to keeper Santiago Cañizares and centre halves Mauricio Pellegrino and Roberto Ayala. Defensively minded midfielder Rubén Baraja happened to be the club top scorer with a mere seven goals, forming an effective protecting block with David Albelda.

Squad edit

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 Santiago Cañizares
2 DF   ARG Mauricio Pellegrino
3 DF   BRA Fábio Aurélio
4 DF   ARG Roberto Ayala
5 DF   SCG Miroslav Đukić
6 MF   ESP David Albelda
7 FW   NOR John Carew
8 MF   ESP Rubén Baraja
9 FW   ESP Salva
10 MF   ESP Angulo
11 FW   ROU Adrian Ilie
12 DF   ESP Carlos Marchena
13 GK   ESP Andrés Palop
14 MF   ESP Vicente
15 DF   ITA Amedeo Carboni
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF   ROU Dennis Şerban
17 FW   ESP Juan Sánchez
18 MF   ARG Kily González
19 MF   ESP Francisco Rufete
20 DF   FRA Jocelyn Angloma
21 MF   ARG Pablo Aimar
22 MF   URU Gonzalo de los Santos
23 DF   ESP Curro Torres
24 FW   ESP Mista
25 GK   ESP David Rángel
26 MF   ESP Jandro
31 DF   ESP David Navarro
34 DF   ESP Javier Garrido Ramírez
MF   PAR Ángel Amarilla

Transfers edit

In
Pos. Name from Type
FW Salva Atletico Madrid €10.80 million
DF Curro Torres CD Tenerife loan ended
DF Carlos Marchena Benfica Free
DF David Navarro Valencia CF Mestalla
MF Francisco Rufete Malaga CF €7.75 million
MF Gonzalo de los Santos Malaga CF €15.00 million
MF Dennis Șerban Elche CF
FW Mista CD Tenerife loan ended
Out
Pos. Name To Type
MF Gaizka Mendieta SS Lazio €48.0 million[1]
MF Didier Deschamps retired[2]
DF Joachim Björklund Venezia F.C. €4.0 million
MF Luis Milla retired[3]
MF Zlatko Zahovic Benfica Free
FW Diego Alonso Atletico Madrid loan

Competitions edit

La Liga edit

League table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Valencia (C) 38 21 12 5 51 27 +24 75 Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2 Deportivo La Coruña 38 20 8 10 65 41 +24 68
3 Real Madrid[a] 38 19 9 10 69 44 +25 66
4 Barcelona 38 18 10 10 65 37 +28 64 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
5 Celta Vigo 38 16 12 10 64 46 +18 60 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
Source: LFP
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored; 5th goal difference; 6th number of goals scored; 7th Fair-play points
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ Real Madrid qualified directly for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League as holders.

Results by round edit

Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
GroundAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA
ResultWDWDDDWDWDWDDLDLWWWLLWWWDDWWWLWWWDWWWW
Position107367965452345788735743121111222211111

Matches edit

25 August 2001 1 Valencia 1–0 Real Madrid
Angulo   8'
9 September 2001 2 Valladolid 1–1 Valencia
Caminero   30' Salva   90'
16 September 2001 3 Valencia 1–0 Las Palmas
Albelda   62'
23 September 2001 4 Athletic 2–2 Valencia
Etxeberría   64'
Carlos García   90'
Ayala   44'
Aimar   47'
30 September 2001 5 Valencia 0–0 Alavés
4 October 2001 6 Celta 1–1 Valencia
Maurice   48' Juan Sánchez   6'
7 October 2001 7 Valencia 1–0 Villarreal
Salva   45'
14 October 2001 8 Barcelona 2–2 Valencia
Saviola   43'
Gabri   74'
Salva   26'
Marchena   72'
21 October 2001 9 Valencia 2–0 Zaragoza
González   32', 80'
28 October 2001 10 Sevilla 1–1 Valencia
Moisés   46' Albelda   20'
4 November 2001 11 Valencia 2–1 Rayo
Salva   22'
Juan Sánchez   88'
Peragón   40' (pen.)
11 November 2001 12 Osasuna 0–0 Valencia
18 November 2001 13 Valencia 0–0 Tenerife
25 November 2001 14 Real Sociedad 2–0 Valencia
Jankauskas   38', 65' (pen.)
1 December 2001 15 Valencia 1–1 Mallorca
Mista   80' Luque   13'
9 December 2001 16 Deportivo 1–0 Valencia
Tristán   59'
15 December 2001 17 Espanyol 2–3 Valencia
Palencia   24'
Alex Fernández   44'
Rufete   59', 63'
Ilie   66'
22 December 2001 18 Valencia 2–1 Málaga
Vicente   25'
Mista   30'
Silva   14'
6 January 2002 19 Betis 1–3 Valencia
Capi   43' Salva   8'
Ilie   16'
Baraja   80' (pen.)
13 January 2002 20 Real Madrid 1–0 Valencia
Morientes   72'
20 January 2002 21 Valencia 1–2 Valladolid
Pellegrino   26' Luis García   20'
Sales   35'
26 January 2002 22 Las Palmas 0–1 Valencia
Mista   7'
3 February 2002 23 Valencia 2–1 Athletic
Mista   14'
Rufete   66'
Etxeberría   73'
6 February 2002 24 Alavés 1–2 Valencia
Astudillo   2' de los Santos   3'
Carew   27'
9 February 2002 25 Valencia 0–0 Celta
16 February 2002 26 Villarreal 1–1 Valencia
Arruabarrena   54' Aimar   83'
23 February 2002 27 Valencia 2–0 Barcelona
Rufete   16'
Aimar   63'
3 March 2002 28 Zaragoza 0–1 Valencia
Rufete   24'
10 March 2002 29 Valencia 2–0 Sevilla
Juan Sánchez   66'
Angulo   89'
17 March 2002 30 Rayo 2–1 Valencia
Pellegrino   45' (o.g.)
Corino   58'
Angulo   29'
24 March 2002 31 Valencia 2–1 Osasuna
Juan Sánchez   78'
Baraja   90'
Aloisi   85'
30 March 2002 32 Tenerife 0–1 Valencia
Aimar   77'
7 April 2002 33 Valencia 4–0 Real Sociedad
Baraja   12'
González   28'
Angulo   55'
Mista   89'
13 April 2002 34 Mallorca 1–1 Valencia
Luque   45' Baraja   63'
21 April 2002 35 Valencia 1–0 Deportivo
Duscher   69' (o.g.)
27 April 2002 36 Valencia 2–1 Espanyol
Baraja   68', 79' Tamudo   30' (pen.)
5 May 2002 37 Málaga 0–2 Valencia
Ayala   35'
Fábio Aurélio   45'
11 May 2002 38 Valencia 2–0 Betis
Baraja   44'
Vicente   90'

UEFA Cup edit

Quarter-finals edit

14 March 2002 (2002-03-14) Internazionale   1–1   Valencia San Siro, Milan
21:00 Materazzi   50' Report Rufete   66' Attendance: 24,184
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
21 March 2002 (2002-03-21) Valencia   0–1   Internazionale Estadio Mestalla, Valencia
21:45 Report Ventola   4' Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Claude Colombo (France)

Statistics edit

Players statistics edit

No. Pos Nat Player Total La Liga Copa del Rey UEFA Cup
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1 GK   ESP Cañizares 40 -26 32 -23 1 0 7 -3
23 DF   ESP Curro Torres 45 0 34 0 1 0 10 0
2 DF   ARG Pellegrino 38 1 30 1 1 0 7 0
4 DF   ARG Ayala 37 2 29 2 0+1 0 7 0
15 DF   ITA Carboni 43 0 32+1 0 1 0 9 0
21 MF   ARG Aimar 40 6 23+10 4 0+1 0 6 2
19 MF   ESP Rufete 41 8 27+6 5 1 1 6+1 2
6 MF   ESP Albelda 39 3 32 2 0 0 6+1 1
14 MF   ESP Vicente 40 3 22+9 2 1 0 5+3 1
10 FW   ESP Angulo 31 6 21+5 4 0 0 3+2 2
9 FW   ESP Salva 26 7 19+3 5 1 0 1+2 2
13 GK   ESP Palop 10 -8 6+1 -4 0 0 3 -4
5 DF   SCG Djukic 26 1 14+2 0 1 0 7+2 1
12 DF   ESP Marchena 22 1 12+4 1 1 0 3+2 0
18 MF   ARG Kily González 32 3 15+11 3 0 0 5+1 0
8 MF   ESP Baraja 18 7 15+2 7 0 0 0+1 0
17 FW   ESP Sánchez 33 8 12+13 4 0 0 5+3 4
24 FW   ESP Mista 34 6 10+16 5 0 0 3+5 1
22 MF   URU De los Santos 21 1 12+1 1 1 0 6+1 0
3 DF   BRA Fábio Aurélio 19 1 6+9 1 0 0 2+2 0
7 FW   NOR Carew 24 1 6+9 1 1 0 6+2 0
11 FW   ROU Ilie 13 5 6+4 2 0 0 3 3
20 DF   FRA Angloma 4 0 2+1 0 0 0 0+1 0
16 MF   ROU Serban 4 0 0+3 0 0+1 0
31 DF   ESP Navarro 3 0 1+1 0 0 0 0+1 0
26 MF   ESP Jandro 1 0 0+1 0
25 GK   ESP David Rángel 0 0 0 0 0 0
DF   PAR Amarilla

Topscorers edit

References edit

  1. ^ Acedo, Francisco (4 November 2016). "Mendieta to retire". Sky Sports. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Factbox: New France coach Didier Deschamps". Reuters. 8 July 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  3. ^ Casado, Edu (17 November 2008). "Qué fue de… Luis Milla". 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 February 2024.