Valencia CF 1998-2004

For the first episode after our summer break, we decided to celebrate one of the great teams of the late 90s/early 00s: Valencia CF. We looked back on how Claudio Ranieri kicked things off with the 1999 Copa del Rey winning team, how Héctor Cúper then took them to two consecutive Champions League finals, before Rafa Benitez made Valencia Spanish champions twice in the space of three years, as well as winning the UEFA Cup.

To talk all things 'Los Che', we were delighted to be joined by football writer and podcaster Chris Lee - the host of the excellent Outside Write podcast and author of 'Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World' and 'The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism'.

Chris' choices:

1. Claudio Ranieri and Valencia
2. Champions League final losses in 2000 and 2001
3. Rafa Benitez and Valencia

Matt and Marc's Choices

1. Mestalla
2. Gaizka Mendieta's goal v Atletico Madrid in the 1999 Copa del Rey final
3. Pablo Aimar

You can find Chris and his podcast on Twitter at @OutsideWrite.

You can also find Chris' two books here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Lee/e/B091D5C6LB?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1694447421&sr=8-1 

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

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Music: Chimez by Dan Henig