Copa del Rey final: Valencia can see a bright future after 11 years in the shadows

It started with that rarest of sights: a Juan Mata header.

David Villa and David Silva combined down the left, the latter picked out a perfect cross – of course – and Mata supplied the finish, committing every bit of his five-foot-seven-inch frame to an awkward nodding of the ball beyond Oscar Ustari.

This was four minutes into the 2008 Copa del Rey final against Getafe, a game Valencia went on to win 3-1. It remains their only trophy since 2004, when they claimed LaLiga, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup and threatened to become one of Spain’s dominant forces. It was the first title in the club careers of Mata and Silva, and the third for Villa, those three precociously talented forwards leading a mismatched unit of players who had either survived the heady days of four years earlier or were brought in to patch up holes in the squad by one of five different head coaches.

And yet, this was not a successful season. Ronald Koeman was sacked two weeks later after they were battered 5-1 by Athletic Bilbao, and they went on to finish 10th in LaLiga, 34 points behind champions Real Madrid. The Copa final, then, was little more than a reprieve from the poor results, the uncertain club management, the concerns about rising debt levels and the unfinished new stadium, an all-too visual reminder of their institutional problems. Within the next three years, Mata, Villa and Silva were all gone.

Throw to our 2008 CUP  pic.twitter.com/wSZqdGglHo

— Valencia CF English  (@valenciacf_en) May 22, 2019

But Valencia are back in the Copa del Rey final again. Barcelona are the opponents – the team they beat in the two-legged semi-final 11 years ago. And this time, it doesn’t feel like a distraction from greater concerns. This time, it feels very much part of the big picture, that there is something on the horizon; that there is even a horizon at all.

“Valencia used to be a very nervy club and they’d go through lots of coaches and sporting directors,” Koeman recently told Marca. “A club that isn’t calm and has so many changes isn’t going to win much.

“Now, things seem to be calmer and they have an experienced coach that gives everyone a job and gets results. This is very important. In my time, we never had the necessary calmness, and this was reflected on the pitch.”

Valencia’s story in 2018-19 has been typically eventful. They started the league season without a win in six and failed to get out of the Champions League group stage, despite a home victory over Manchester United. At the halfway stage in LaLiga, they were 10th, 10 points off the top four and only four clear of relegation. “I’ve genuinely never seen anything like this,” said coach Marcelino, aghast at a run of bad results and even worse luck that seemingly had him on the brink of the sack.

12 – Valencia will play the @ChampionsLeague for 12th season, more than any other #LaLiga team ever except Real Madrid & Barcelona. Centenary pic.twitter.com/yHOrPRq2jZ

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) May 18, 2019

The Valencia of 11 years ago would almost certainly have fired him. Maybe even two or three seasons back, in the early part of Peter Lim’s ownership of the club, the wells of patience would have run dry quickly. But not this time. Not this season. 

“In other circumstances, they could have got rid of the boss,” said captain Dani Parejo in January. “There’s a stability now and the club knows where it’s going. Coaches aren’t working with the idea that ‘Maybe they’ll get rid of me tomorrow’ any more. And you can feel that.”

They did feel it. Eleven wins and three defeats from their final 19 league games propelled them back into the top four at just the right moment, vindicating faith in Marcelino. Off the pitch, the club celebrated its centenary, a strong commercial programme helping to engage fans who months previously had been furiously brandishing those infamous white hankies. Their operating budget is now said to be the fourth highest in the division, and a sale of the stadium land was agreed in April, meaning the half-built Nou Mestalla could, at long last, be completed in the coming seasons.

“Innovation, stability and betting on Academy talent – keys to the future of the club”

This is just the beginning of our new era  https://t.co/xuu842Uomo pic.twitter.com/7Wi1FOXxmK

— Valencia CF English  (@valenciacf_en) May 22, 2019

“This weekend is an opportunity for Valencia to drive home the message – both in Spain and around the world – that, win or lose, Valencia CF is back and ready to compete with the best of the best,” the club said on Friday in a review of their remarkable season. Like a Juan Mata headed goal, that’s something that would have been hard to believe when that final got underway 11 years ago.