Hector Cúper's Valencia: one step away from glory
In most things, and sports is no exception, people tend to remember the first place, the champion or the best and rarely stick with those who finish in second place. In football, this also applies and that is why people usually speak well of the champion and defects are usually found in those who fail to establish themselves.
The coach Héctor Cúper
The Argentine Héctor Cúper had a relatively outstanding career as a player, playing as a center back, mainly in Argentinian sides Ferro and Huracán, eventually participating with the Argentina national team. As a manager, he started on the Huracán, a club from Parque Patricios in Buenos Aires, and then moved to Lanús, with both teams having performances above what was expected for both institutions.That earned him the chance to sign for RCD Mallorca, where he achieved fifth place in the Spanish league, being a recently promoted team and third place in his second year. That made him one of the most coveted coaches in Spain.
Season 1999-2000
At the end of the 1998-99 season, Claudio Ranieri left the Valencia dugout, after a couple of good years, where he won the Copa del Rey and the extinct Intertoto Cup in addition to developing some young players who would be important for the future of the club like Claudio López or Gaizka Mendieta. The Italian left the Valencian club to sign for Atlético de Madrid.In this context, Valencia was looking for a coach and, following Ranieri's own recommendation, they hired Héctor Cúper who decided not to renew his contract with RCD Mallorca. The Argentine coach saw that the Italian's work had been good and he decided to maintain the core that was already in the club and simply enhance it with some key players.
The main signing of the season was "Kily" González who had just had good seasons with Zaragoza. However, players who had significant contributions to the club such as Pellegrino, Juan Sánchez or Oscar García also arrived, and the signing of Gerard López and the clubs was also quite important.
The beginning of the season could not have been worse since they lost their first four league games and that caused the Ché fans to begin calling for the resignation of the Argentine coach. In the sixth match the first victory would come and it was not just any win - it was against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Mendieta, Gerard and Claudio López scored Valencia's three goals in the first half, making Fernando Morientes two goals useless to try to turn the game around. In the end, it was a 2-3 victory that gave an important boost to Cúper.
From there, the team began to show another side, more similar to what its coach wanted it to have: defensive solidity, physical effort, intensity and pressure. Valencia evolved to become a very difficult team to face and overcome, earning them a third position in La Liga, tied on points with the second team (FC Barcelona) but with four goals less in goal difference. However, the highlight of that season was undoubtedly the UEFA Champions League.
In the top European competition, Valencia started in the third qualifying round where they beat Hapoel Haifa of Israel by a 4-0 aggregate. In the first group stage, remembering that at that time, the Champions League had two group stages, they met Bayern Munich, Rangers and PSV Eindhoven. To the surprise of many, the club led by Cúper remained in first position without losing a game.
In the second group stage, Girondins de Bordeaux, Fiorentina and the defending champion, Manchester United, awaited them. In this case, the Spanish finished second behind the English team. In the quarterfinals they faced Lazio, one of the strongest teams in Europe at that time, which they beat thanks to an excellent first leg in Mestalla, where they beat the Italians 5-2, making the victory by 1-0 for Lazio in Italy pointless.
Barcelona awaited them in the semi-finals and another great first leg, where they beat the Catalans 4-1, guaranteeing their place in the final, where they would have another Spanish duel, this time against Real Madrid, and the last one before the era of Los Galacticos. That was the first final of the competition with two teams from the same country and the first final in the history of the Ché club. The Madrid team was clearly superior to Valencia, beating them 3-0, something that did not detract from Cúper and his players for the great season they had in Europe.
Claudio Ranieri was the man who reccommended Héctor Cúper as his replacement
Season 2000-01
Valencia's great season did not escape the eyes of the most important clubs in Europe at that time and players like Gerard (FC Barcelona), Farinos (Inter Milan) and Claudio López (Lazio) left the club. However, Cúper knew how to move in the market and brought very important reinforcements such as John Carew, Rubén Baraja, Vicente, Roberto Ayala, Mista or the World Cup winner, Didier Deschamps. In the middle of the season, the star signing and one of the club's most important players in the following years would arrive, Argentinian midfielder Pablo Aimar.In the League, Valencia would begin by facing, funny enough, Real Madrid again, losing in this case 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu. However, since that defeat, they achieved very good results that led them to be leaders of the competition for several days, although a weak finish caused them to finish in fifth position. Although again, the highlight of the season was Europe.
Once again, Valencia started in a previous round, facing Tirol Innsbruck of Austria, whom they easily beat in Mestalla, and then came first in the two group stages, with only one defeat in 12 games. In the first group stage they beat Heerenveen, Lyon and Olympiacos while in the second they did so with Manchester United, Sturm Graz and Panathinaikos. Their path to a new UEFA Champions League final passed through England; Wenger's Arsenal in the quarter-finals and Leeds United in the semi-finals.
In the final, Valencia would once again face a European giant, in this case, Bayern Munich. The match that was played at San Siro was extremely even to the point that the 1-1 tie was with two penalty goals. Parity lasted until the end of the two extra times and the penalty shootout was reached, where it was necessary to reach the seventh penalty to break the tie, resulting in the victory for the Bavarian team. Fortune once again turned its back on Valencia and Cúper.
After these two successful seasons, but with two stinging defeats, Héctor Cúper left Valencia and instead signed for Italian side Inter. For Valencia, a gradual decline began and today they are far from the fantastic team they were during the Cúper era.