When English giants Liverpool approached manager Robinho Lazaró to replace the outgoing Graham Potter (who took the England job, if you’re interested), it reminded the Spaniard that he was yet to win a trophy after 7 years in charge of Valencia. Indeed, the big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid seemed near-invincible as they both racked up over 100 points in 2029/30. And, despite Valencia having the best 2 players in the league, they finished a massive 27 and 29 points behind the pair.
There was positive news off the pitch as the expansion of Nuevo Mestalla saw it become the 3rd-biggest stadium in Spain with a 71,000 capacity. Sales of a few backup players took the Valencia bank balance past £400m for the first time, which was boosted in January as Brighton met the minimum fee release fees of homegrown centre backs Wassim Tomás and Diego Mieres for £40m, which saw 6ft 7in Sabato Luisi promoted.
Manager Roberto Lazaró was offered the Liverpool job over the summer, but remained committed to the Valencia cause. He stuck with the 4-1-3-2 that was working nicely but was keen to make the approach more offensive. To do that, he began training attacker Daniel Vargas as a right back, which enabled him to use a wing back and shift Cristhian Mosquera inside.
Taking The Fight To Barcelona and Real
The bookies still fancied Valencia to finish 4th with title odds of 18/1 behind Barca (5/3), Real Madrid (13/8) and Atlético (9/1). But they laid down a statement on the opening day. Last season’s European Golden Shoe winner Marco bagged 4 goals and Vargas got a goal and an assist in his first game at right back in 7-0 romping of Tenerife. Marco and Vargas both scored again, as did wonderkid false nine Fabián Salsano, in a 3-0 win at Valladolid before midfielder Alberto Kilamba nicked a 1-1 as they set a new club record attendance of 70,380 against Atlético.
The solid start continued, only dropping points at Girona through the first 11 games. They then faced a trip to Barca, who dominated despite only winning 1-0. A similar story followed as Madrid came to Nuevo Mestalla, bossed it by 19 shots to 7, but Valencia nicked it as striker Carlos Seligrat swept home left back Jesús Vázquez’s cross. That, remarkably, was Valencia’s first win against Real in 16 meetings and 7 years, since their first meeting back in October 2023. It also put them right in the mix, trailing Real by just 2 points with Barca a further 2 back.
Valencia started 2031 well but missed a chance to go top with a 2-0 defeat at Atlético, who they’ve only beaten once in 8 attempts away and 4 in 16 in total. They bounced back as Salsano’s hat trick led an 8-0 trouncing of Girona but a wasteful 1-1 at Mallorca and a 3-1 defeat at home to Bilbao meant the title probably remained a step too far. And that was confirmed by a 2-0 defeat at Real. A stacked fixture schedule, including their final 5 league games being played during a 2-week period, saw Valencia fall away, but rotated sides finished the season well.
Valencia finished in 3rd place with 87 points after 27 wins, 6 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 94 and conceding 30. Real and Barca dropped a few more points, but Real only conceded 10 goals all season and kept 29 clean sheets! And a special mention for Alavés, who finished 5th to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in club history. Captain Javi Guerra led the way with 14 assists and was the best player in the league with a 7.46 average rating, while Márcio Antonio kept 18 clean sheets. Salsano won the Premio Don Balón Major Jugador joven del ano (young player of the year) award.
Best Champions League Campaign So Far
The impressive league start carried into the Champions League as they beat Fenerbahce 3-0, Nordsjaelland 3-1 and Salzburg 3-0. The fixture list got tricky as they lost 2-1 at home to Arsenal and 1-0 at Inter. But a win at Genk was vital as midfielder Adriano’s penalty nicked a draw at home to Liverpool before a backup side lost at PSG to finish 16th.
Valencia faced Lens in the playoff round, and Marco’s second leg brace ensured a 6-2 aggregate victory. They got the worst draw possible against Real in the quarters but, for the second time this season, a solid defensive effort and Marco’s strike edged the home leg. That narrow lead should have been doubled inside 14 seconds at the Bernabéu as Salsano missed a glorious chance straight from kickoff. The striker hit the post with a great effort on 13 minutes but they eventually made a bright start count as Adriano headed home Vargas’ cross. Real grew into it but never really threatened, and Valencia held out for a 3rd 1-0 win over them this season.
That famous win took Valencia into the quarter finals for the first time during Lazaró’s reign. Tottenham, whose team had barely changed in 8 years, were up next and Adriano nicked a 1-1 in London and scored the vital second to edge a 2-1 home win to take his side into the semis.
Another English side lay in wait as Valencia took on Arsenal, who hosted a snowy first leg in London. They lost Adriano to a hernia injury but defended magnificently to restrict Arsenal, only for Gabriel Jesus to score a 93rd-minute winner. Valencia had 2 league games in 3 days in the week between the legs, so Lazaró rested the entire starting 11 for both. Completely different conditions welcomed Arsenal to Nuevo Mestalla as they faced 34C heat, and Valencia made a fast start as Kilamba’s low cross was turned in by Salsano. They hit the front as Guerra’s deep corner was headed in by centre back Joao Paulo, and Valencia led 2-0 at the break, having restricted Arsenal to 0 shots.
Guerra hit the post with a freekick but, so predictably, Arsenal equalised with their first shot. Nothing happened in extra time, so it went to penalties. Guerra scored first and Antonio saved from Saka. Dinis Telehovschi and Salsano both converted and Antonio made another great save from Jesus. That gave homegrown striker Seligrat the chance to be a hero, and he confidently delivered, slamming into the top corner to send Valencia into the Champions League Final!
First Spanish Cup Final
Rotated teams beat San Fernando, Logronés, and Alavés, then cruised past Tenerife 6-1 on aggregate. But there would be no rotation for Lazaró’s first cup final at Valencia as they faced Real Madrid. The sides played out an awful first half in which the only highlight was Antonio making a great save from Bellingham’s long-range strike. The second half was even worse, so it went to extra time, Valencia fell apart and conceded three goals in seven minutes to lose 3-0.
Champions League Final
That defeat meant Lazaró’s first piece of silverware could be the Champions League. However, they faced a tough test to achieve that as their third Champions League Final, having lost in 2000 and 2001, was an all-Spanish affair against Barcelona at the Olympic Athletic Centre of Athens. Lazaró had a clean bill of health for the biggest game of his and his players’ careers. He decided to take a more cautious approach by putting Mosquera at right back and, as a reminder, the entire starting 11 is homegrown at the club. Lazaró lined up:
Antonio; Mosquera, Fernandez Vinitzky, Guillamón, Paulo; Telehovschi; Guerra, Adriano, Kilamba; Marco, Salsano
Subs: Seligrat, Torrado, Luisi, Calvo, Bello, Arroyo, Vázquez, Vargas, Clemente, Machado, D’Alessandro, Julio
The game began with Koundé being booked for going through the back of Salsano, but he probably should have been sent off after 20 seconds. Barca started well, having 2 goals disallowed for offside before Fati hit the post and Adriano’s low strike forced a great save out of Seimen. Lazaró made a tactical tweak at the break, dropping Salsano back to left midfield and it quickly worked, as Marco drifted wide and crossed for Adriano to slam home from 10 yards. Valencia defended heroically and minimised Barca’s threat, to the extent they took off best performer Yamal and only managed 1 shot on target. Lazaró killed the game, and they held on for a 1-0 victory.
Valencia CF won the Champions League to become Champions of Europe for the first time!!
Celebrating Unexpected Success
To say a Champions League win was unlikely was probably the biggest understatement of all time. Prior to this season, Valencia hadn’t won a trophy in 12 years and hadn’t previously gone beyond the last 16 of the tournament. But the town of Valencia was in hysterical as a superb run, in which they beat both Real and Barca, saw them become European champions for the first time.
Marco led the way with 21 goals but the star of the season was probably Adriano with 20 goals and 7 assists, closely followed by Guerra, who maintained his outstanding numbers with 10 goals and 19 assists. Also impressive were Salsano (16 goals and 8 assists), Seligrat (15 goals), Kilamba (5 goals and 16 assists), Manuel Calvo (4 goals and 11 assists) and Vázquez (12 assists).
Valencia’s homegrown contingent increased significantly this season with several Ibero-American players becoming homegrown at the club and a few youngsters stepping up. 22 homegrown players made a combined 435 league appearances with 85 goals, including 16-year-old striker Amador becoming the youngest goalscorer in club history on the final day at Sevilla, and 283 cup games with 43 goals.
The youth sides also performed well again, including Valencia Mestalla surviving in mid-table of LaLiga 2 again, led by the excellent performances of left back Matías Romero. The U19s won their División de Honor Juvenil group but lost to Zaragoza in the quarters, and reached the UEFA Youth League Final but lost on penalties to Dinamo. They also had some impressive performances, including midfield pair Ahmed Umar and Iván Martín combining for 48 goals and 23 assists and striker Francisco Palhinha’s 30 goals.
Despite plenty of positives, Valencia had a disappointing youth intake, which seems to be the trend in all my recent FM24 saves, only producing 3 players with up to 4-star potential.
A historic season ended in Valencia, but Lazaró still had his work cut out to win the club’s first LaLiga title since 2004. And he knew he would need to strengthen certain areas of the team if he had any hope of doing that.
Could Valencia close the gap to Real and Barca in Lazaró’s 9th season? Join us next Friday to find out!
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