Spanish Inquisition: Have Valencia Resurrected Themselves?

There's something about Valencia CF that compels you to love them and hate them at the same time.

They reach the final of the UEFA Champions League twice in a row, win La Liga twice in three seasons and win the UEFA Cup too, and then go the next five years winning nothing, except the Copa del Rey.

They boast one of the better stadiums in the country, show their ambition by starting to construct an even better one and then end up with two stadiums, one they cannot sell and one they cannot afford to complete. They appoint one of the most tactically sound coaches in modern times and then whistle and boo him away.

They show their intent by getting rid of the coach who leads them to just four points from the top because the team isn’t playing entertaining football and replace him with a coach who drags them to just two points above safety. They possess one of the best squads in the country, possibly in Europe, and then look forward to getting rid of the nucleus of that squad by axing three of the senior players and parading two of their best assets across Europe for sale.

They go six games without a win after the players stop getting paid, fall out of a UEFA Europa League place and then win five games on the trot after payment is assured and allow themselves a chance to finish third in the league. They lose to Osasuna and Numancia and then beat Sevilla and come close to defeating mighty Barcelona.

Welcome to the murky world of Valencia CF.

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona might be the big two in Spain and will remain so until the sun starts rising from the west, but no other club in modern Spanish football sparks as much pity, regret, pathos, delirium and despair as Valencia do.

Last season's shenanigans at Valencia have been well documented and, in the summer of 2008, things took on a brighter hue. The best players refused to leave, a new president came in and so did a new coach by the name of Unai Emery, someone who had led unknown Almeria to an eighth place finish in their first ever season in the Spanish top flight.

This season was supposed to be Valencia's revival season, the season in which they would gain resurrection and establish themselves as a top force again- okay, as a top force outside the top two.

And, for a time, it did look that they could really be revived. At the start of the year, Los Che were second in the table and looked certain to qualify for next season's Champions League, although there had been moments of doubts. Yet they were still in with a chance of wining the last ever UEFA Cup and their football had been good and exciting at times.

Then the news broke that they were steeped in a debt of over €400 million. They owed their players €14 million in wages, work on their Nou Mestalla had to be stopped in late February and the credit crunch that has hit much of the construction industry in Spain, appeared to have hit Valencia too, and hit them very, very hard.

Valencia's performance on the pitch started to fall away as they went six league games without a win and fell out of the UEFA Cup too. They lost to Osasuna, Real Valladolid and Numancia and drew with Malaga, Deportivo la Coruna and Recreativo de Huelva. The players, supposedly, didn't feel motivated knowing that a summer clear-out was, and still is, very much likely. The fans realized that whistling and booing wouldn’t help the situation much and so Emery's position at the club came under scrutiny.

But this is Valencia CF, who have had more presidents, coaches, sporting directors and director generals in the last five years than the number of times Leonardo DiCaprio changed his identity in Catch Me If You Can. A timely call from Bancaja, the regional savings bank which also happens to be Valencia’s largest creditor, the appointment of Javier Gomez as the club’s CEO, a £50 million loan from a local company and things started to get right back on track.

As off-pitch matters started to get sorted out, things started to improve on the pitch. A 1-0 win over Racing in Santander in late February was followed by a 4-1 thrashing of struggling Getafe. Then came an enthralling 3-2 victory over Sporting de Gijon, followed by a rather ugly, and perhaps lucky, 3-1 defeat of Sevilla and then the 2-1 win over Real Betis in midweek.

On Saturday, Valencia took on the best side in Europe, Barcelona, and scored twice in two minutes just before half-time to take a 2-1 lead.

Eventually they conceded the equalizer but that came five minutes before normal time in a game in which they had only one fewer shot on target than Barcelona.

Much of this good form is down to the fact that David Villa is back from injury and back on top form.

In mid-January, the Spanish international striker had scored only once from open play in two months. But the man who is arguably the best striker in Europe has scored seven times in the last five league matches and is only two goals behind Samuel Eto’o in the top goalscorers’ charts in the Spanish first division, having played 102 minutes less. It would be his goals, more than anything else, that would lead Che to top tier European football again.

Not that Valencia are a one man team. David Silva missed a decent chunk of the season but his replacement, Juan Mata, saw that Valencia didn’t miss him too much. David Albelda can still kick in the boot in the midfield, Carlos Marchena still remains a fighter, Joaquin still has his genius to call upon in moments of trouble, Raul Albiol is a strong defender and Hedwiges Maduro is improving. But then again, Valencia's season is far from secured.

Beating the likes of Getafe, Sporting and Betis was never going to be difficult, given the quality that Unai Emery's team have, but their run-in to the end of the season sees them take on Real Madrid at home and  Villarreal and Atletico Madrid away, their direct rivals for a top four finish.

Champions League football next season is more necessary than anything else for Valencia, if they are to rescue themselves and survive in what is increasing becoming a very tight situation in Spain, both on the pitch and off it.

Without top tier European football next season, we might as well admit we are seeing the beginning of the end of Valencia CF.

Subhankar Mondal, Goal.com