The collapse of Los Che: How Valencia went from back-to-back Champions League finals to fighting relegation from La Liga

Valencia's golden era essentially began and ended with Claudio Ranieri. When the Italian was named the club's new coach in September 1997 - just three rounds into the new season - he wasn't the universally loved figure he is today. He may have got Fiorentina out of Serie B and led La Viola to the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, where they had been beaten by a Ronaldo-led Barcelona just a few months previously, but he was hardly a household name in Spain. Indeed, in his very first press conference at Mestalla, Valencia president Paco Roig mistakenly referred to the club's new coach as "Rinaldi"!

Ranieri had his own linguistic issues at the start of his tenure, but it soon became clear that he had a better understanding than predecessor Jorge Valdano of the wealth of talent at his disposal. As well as making good use of veteran defenders such as Jocelyn Angloma, Amedeo Carboni and Miroslav Dukic, Ranieri gave prominent roles to Gaizka Mendieta, Miguel Angel Angulo and Franciso Javier Farinos, while he also began to get the best out of Claudio Lopez, whom he paired with mid-season arrival Adrien Ilie to great effect.

By the start of the 1998-99 campaign, Valencia had a lovely blend of youth and experience that propelled them to a fourth-placed finish in La Liga that secured qualification for the Champions League. However, it was in the Copa del Rey that fans saw the very best of Ranieri's team.
After easing past Levante in the last 16, Valencia beat Barcelona home and away in the quarter-finals, with the electrifying Lopez scoring four times in a 7-5 aggregate win over a Blaugrana side containing Rivaldo and Patrick Kluivert. Remarkably, even better was to come in the semis, as Los Che routed Real Madrid 6-0 on one of the most memorable nights in Mestalla's history.

"The atmosphere was wonderful," forward Goran Vlahovic later recalled in an interview on VCF Media Radio. “As a team we had several good games at that time, but that was definitely one of the best. Real Madrid were not just any team after all. That 6-0 scoreline was a result of our great play, and not because we had a weak team in front of us. But I remember that it was as if each time we got close to the Real Madrid goal, we scored!"

The big question for Valencia after eventually eliminating Madrid 7-2 on aggregate was whether they could finish in the job in the final, against Atletico. Their response was emphatic, with Lopez scoring his seventh and eight goals of the Copa campaign in a resounding 3-0 win over the Rojiblancos.

"It was one of the best memories of my football career," the former Argentina attacker told the club's media channel. "Being able to enjoy it with the fans and hear the Valencia anthem at the end of the game was unforgettable."

Unfortunately, that also proved to be the final game of Ranieri's (first) spell in charge, as he had already agreed to take charge of Atletico, the very team he'd vanquished in Seville. "It was partly because I'm an impatient person," the Italian told Tuttosport in 2015. "Atletico wanted to build a great team and convinced me to move there, while Valencia had told me they couldn't invest much money.

"I had argued, 'We've beaten Real Madrid and Barcelona in both the league and the cup; with just one or two big-name signings, we could challenge for the title.' They told me it wasn't possible. But I was wrong, because that team went on to reach two Champions League finals!"

Although Ranieri's call for a couple of high-profile players was perfectly understandable, he arguably underestimated the potential of the team he had built. As goalkeeper Santiago Canizares said, "Claudio put the first stone in place at Valencia with the 1999 Copa del Rey win", meaning there wasn't that much construction work left to be done.

Valencia managed to strengthen the squad by spending less than €8 million on Juan Sanchez, Mauricio Pellegrino and Kily Gonzalez. In addition, Ranieri's successor, Hector Cuper, made Gerard Lopez and David Albelda - two young midfielders who had just returned from loan spells, at Alaves and Villarreal, respectively - integral to the new project.

Cuper's judgement was constantly called into question, though. Even after Valencia recovered from a dreadful start to the season, which saw them lose their opening four games in La Liga, the Argentine, who had worked wonders at Mallorca, was repeatedly criticised for his allegedly conservative, defence-first tactics. It also didn't help that he didn't come across anywhere near as well as the lovable Ranieri.

However, some of the very same supporters that wanted Cuper sacked during a trying first half of the season hailed him as a hero after Valencia returned from Rome in April 2000 after eliminating Lazio to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. The following month, Los Che routed Barca 4-1 at Mestalla on their way to a 5-3 aggregate win that set up a showdown with Real Madrid in Paris.

Valencia had taken four points off Los Blancos in La Liga, and finished two places above them in the final standings, in third. However, they had no answer to a Steve McManaman-inspired Madrid in Saint-Denis, leaving Cuper crestfallen.

It was, as he freely admitted, "a disastrous experience", with Cuper later revealing to La Nacion, " I went home and my wife said to me, 'You’ll be in the final again next year.' I looked at her and said, 'Yeah, right...' But the following year, there we were again!"

Merely reaching a second consecutive Champions League final is a fantastic feat for a coach - but Cuper's achievement was made all the more impressive by the fact that he did so after losing some of his best players. Lopez, Gerard and Farinos were all sold ahead of the 2000-01 campaign - and yet Cuper remained upbeat.

"I always tell my teams they need to improve on whatever they've achieved the season before," he said a couple of months after the Paris defeat, "and the target for us is to win every competition we take part in."

Part of the reason for his continued optimism was the quality of the reinforcements, as Ruben Baraja, Roberto Ayala, Vicente and John Carew were all signed during the summer transfer window, while Pablo Aimar arrived in January 2001.

All the while, the fans remained utterly unconvinced by Cuper's conservative tactics, but he was not for changing. "Valencia fans demand more risks and entertainment, but what is spectacle?" he asked. "I like my teams to play attacking football but I'm not going to commit suicide or give the opposition presents."

What's more, Cuper's pragmatic approach continued to serve him remarkably well in Europe. While Valencia were locked in a fierce battle for a top-four finish in La Liga, they once again made it to the Champions League final - and by upsetting Arsene Wenger's Arsenal in the quarters before seeing off fellow surprise package Leeds United in the semi-finals.

Bayern Munich unsurprisingly went into the tournament-decider in Milan as favourites - and not just because of their greater European pedigree. After gaining revenge over Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for their devastating defeat in the 1999 final at Camp Nou, Ottmar Hitzfeld's team had dethroned Madrid in the last four. Cuper, though, wasn't just desperate to pull off an upset; he was confident of doing so.

"I would give my life, and future lives, to win this final," he said. "We have corrected all of the mistakes that we made last year against Real Madrid. For Valencia, and for me, it is an honour and a privilege to play in a second final in a row. It would be worse to have to watch the final on television." What followed, though, was just a different form of devastation.

After failing to turn up in Paris, Valencia fell agonisingly short in Milan, beaten 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. “Another one has passed us by,” a crushed Cuper lamented. "It's a very painful moment, but we'll have to bear it."

Things would get worse before they got better, though, as Valencia failed to even qualify for the following season's competition after being on the wrong end of a wondrous Rivaldo hat-trick in what was effectively a Champions League qualification play-off with Barcelona on the final day of the league season just three weeks later.

Cuper's two-year tenure, thus, came to a bitter end, with just a Spanish Super Cup to show for his efforts, and the supporters were hardly sorry to see him go. However, the appointment of Rafael Benitez as his successor hardly filled the fans with confidence.

Valencia president Pedro Cortes insisted that the man who had just taken Tenerife into the top-flight was the "ideal coach" for the club: "He's a professional who is highly qualified to take charge of the sort of team we want - young, aggressive and with a winning attitude." It was common knowledge, though, that Valencia had offered the job to, and been rejected by, Javier Irureta, Mane Esnal and Luis Aragones.

Benitez's arrival didn't just surprise the supporters either; the squad was also taken aback. However, they were immediately won over by his mix of self-deprecation and self-belief. According to Canizares, Benitez told them in one of his very first team meetings, "You come from the Champions League final and I come from Segunda Division, but, humbly, I think I have tools to make you improve."

And Benitez did just that, even though he was very nearly sacked less than five months into the job. The mastermind of 'The Miracle of Istanbul' has been very open about the fact that Valencia's 3-2 win at Espanyol on December 13 was one of the most important matches of his entire career. The new boss was under intense pressure at the time, with Valencia having gone from second to eighth in the table after a run of five games without a win. Therefore, the writing was on the wall for Benitez with his team two goals down at the break in Barcelona.

However, as happened in Liverpool's astounding fightback against AC Milan in 2005, the manager made a couple of crucial tactical tweaks that turned the game on its head, with Valencia running out victorious thanks to goals from Francisco Rufete (two) and Illie.

It was a victory which emboldened Benitez. "In January, I told several players that we were going to win the league," he told the club's media channel. "They thought I was crazy. But from that moment on, the team grew.

"A good job had been done previously by Hector Cuper. We gave it one more twist to make us a little more offensive-minded and balanced. Aimar was a very talented player who could perform much better when surrounded by hard-working players. Baraja got into the box better than anyone. There were players like Vicente or Kily who broke down defences.

"I think the team was very balanced. Everyone highlighted the partnership of Albelda and Baraja, which worked perfectly, but on the right with Rufete and Angulo, or on the left with Kily and Vicente, players who went back and forth and put in the defensive work. Quality is not only skill. Quality is doing the right thing at the right time -and we did it many times.

"Also, little by little, a great bond with the fans was forged, and Mestalla became strong. We had a lot of confidence that was growing day by day."

The net result was Valencia losing just one game between the tail end of January and May 11, 2002 as they romped to a first league title in 31 years, winning seven of their final eight games to finish eight points clear of Deportivo La Coruna.

"I will always remember the parade," Benitez told BBC Sport, "and seeing people crying in the streets." It was, as the coach put it, "a glorious time" for Valencia and their supporters because, less than two years later, they won the title again, and this time it was complemented by a UEFA Cup success.

"It was a great year for all of the team, on an individual and collective level," Vicente told VCF Media Radio. "We did things very well and we were a very compact, solid team. Our defending was amazing, and when we went on the attack we were a very dangerous side. We were able to dominate sides and our counters were really good, getting a lot of people into the opposition box."

Valencia were also as strong mentally as they were tactically - unlike Madrid, their main title rivals for the majority of the season. Florentino Perez's Galacticos were 12 points clear with 12 rounds remaining, but they eventually finished fourth after completely capitulating down the home straight. Valencia took full advantage as they embarked on a 10-game unbeaten run in which they took 28 points from a possible 30 to secure a second title in three seasons with two rounds to spare.

"I remember the celebrations in Valencia, with everybody in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento," Vicente said. "I'm Valencian, so seeing the city like that gave me goosebumps."

The players and the supporters were celebrating again 10 days later when Valencia defeated Marseille 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final in Gothenburg to seal a sensational double. "This has been a great season," Benitez enthused that night in Sweden, "and we will set new targets for the next one." However, he would be gone before it began.

On June 1, 2004, Benitez resigned as Valencia coach. The lure of Liverpool played a part in his decision, but his exit had been coming long before the Reds made clear their interest in his services. In fact, Benitez had fallen out with Valencia sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch over player recruitment before the 2003-04 campaign had even started. "I was hoping for a sofa and they've brought me a lamp," he infamously said of the club's transfer window.

He also made it clear that while leaving Valencia was "one of the most difficult decisions" of his career, he felt he had been left with no other option than to walk away. "I want to see it as positive that the club tried to keep me on," he said, "but after the events of this season, which have undermined my morale, I decided to reconsider my future at the club."

In a bid to lift the morale of the supporters, Valencia rehired fan favourite Ranieri - but his second spell at Mestalla was a disaster, lasting just eight months, with the former Chelsea boss sacked after an embarrassing UEFA Cup round-of-32 loss to Steaua Bucharest. Sadly, Valencia have never really been the same again and, as far as the supporters are concerned, Lim is the main reason why.

When he took over in October 2014, with the club in a perilous financial position, the fans were optimistic that the Singaporean billionaire would re-establish Los Che as a major force in Spanish and European football. However, while Valencia won the Copa in 2019, while at the same time qualifying for the Champions League, Lim's response to that success - sacking beloved coach Marcelino and highly-rated director of football Mateu Alemany due to a dispute over transfer policy - outraged the fans, who'd long accused the owner of not really caring about the club.

Lim did nothing to quell those suspicions in a rare interview with TheFinancial Times in 2021, in which he described Valencia as a "trophy asset" that had been "incredibly good for networking". All of a sudden, the bizarre 2016 appointment of Gary Neville as coach made a lot more sense, given the former Manchester United full-back was also a co-owner of Salford City. The revelation also arguably shed some light on why Valencia had brought in so many players and coaches represented by super-agent Jorge Mendes during Lim's stewardship.

Canizares was one of the owner's most outspoken critics after Marcelino's shock sacking back in 2019, and he's still leading the calls for change today. "I don't know if Peter Lim even knows the state of the team right now, if he's even watching the matches," the legendary shot-stopper told Tiempo de Juego, referring to the fact that that the Singaporean has long been missing in action, and that even his son Kiat, who was appointed chairman in 2024, is rarely seen at Mestalla.

"Valencia is wounded but Valencia is a goldmine of a business, an absolute goldmine. Look at it: forty-odd thousand people turn up at Mestalla even though they know they are going to suffer, they are going to be embarrassed. In other words, it has an extraordinary fanbase.

"The problem is that Peter Lim hasn't been willing to listen to those who have tried to buy the club. The last attempt was no more than a year ago. So we have a problem, which is, how do we get Peter Lim to put this club on the market, and wake us from this nightmare?"

As some fans fear, relegation could well be the only answer. But they'll praying it doesn't come to that - just like anyone who remembers Valencia's glory years, Rodri included.