| 2001–02 season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Jaime Ortí | ||
| Manager | Rafael Benítez | ||
| Stadium | Mestalla | ||
| La Liga | 1st | ||
| UEFA Cup | Quarter-final | ||
| Copa del Rey | First round | ||
| Top goalscorer | Rubén Baraja (7) | ||
|  | |||
Valencia CF won their first La Liga title since 1970-71 season, in the first campaign of new trainer Rafael Benítez. The Tenerife recruit had a tough start to his job, with several dropped points and a midfield slot in the beginning of the season, culminating in a disqualification from Copa del Rey for fielding too many non-EU players. Benítez was reported to be near the sack before an away game against Espanyol. With Valencia trailing 2-0 at halftime, the resurgence of the team in the second half allowed the inexperienced coach to keep the job, and it got to be a starting point for a winning streak that eventually saw Valencia claiming the entire league, despite taking only 75 points and scoring a mere 51 goals.
With the attacking play not flowing as previously, the all-conquering defence improved further, conceding only 29 goals, much thanks to keeper Santiago Cañizares and centre halves Mauricio Pellegrino and Roberto Ayala. Defensively minded midfielder Rubén Baraja happened to be the club top scorer with a mere seven goals, forming an effective protecting block with David Albelda.
Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| 
 | 
 | 
Transfers
| In | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | from | Type | 
| FW | Salva | Atletico Madrid | €10.80 million | 
| DF | Curro Torres | CD Tenerife | loan ended | 
| DF | Carlos Marchena | Benfica | Free | 
| DF | David Navarro | Valencia CF Mestalla | |
| MF | Francisco Rufete | Malaga CF | €7.75 million | 
| MF | Gonzalo de los Santos | Malaga CF | €15.00 million | 
| MF | Dennis Șerban | Elche CF | |
| FW | Mista | CD Tenerife | loan ended | 
| Out | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | To | Type | 
| MF | Gaizka Mendieta | SS Lazio | €48.0 million | 
| MF | Didier Deschamps | retired | |
| DF | Joachim Björklund | Venezia F.C. | €4.0 million | 
| MF | Luis Milla | retired | |
| MF | Zlatko Zahovic | Benfica | Free | 
| FW | Diego Alonso | Atletico Madrid | loan | 
Competitions
La Liga
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valencia (C) | 38 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 51 | 27 | +24 | 75 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage | 
| 2 | Deportivo La Coruña | 38 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 65 | 41 | +24 | 68 | |
| 3 | Real Madrid[lower-alpha 1] | 38 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 69 | 44 | +25 | 66 | |
| 4 | Barcelona | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 65 | 37 | +28 | 64 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round | 
| 5 | Celta Vigo | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 64 | 46 | +18 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round | 
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored; 5th goal difference; 6th number of goals scored; 7th Fair-play points
(C) Champions
Notes:
- ↑ Real Madrid qualified directly for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League as holders.
Results by round
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; = Leader, 2002-03 UEFA Champions League group stage; = 2002-03 UEFA Champions League group stage; = 2002-03 UEFA Champions League qualifying round; = 2002-03 UEFA Cup; = 2002-03 Segunda Division
Matches
| 25 August 2001 1 | Valencia | 1–0 | Real Madrid | |
| Angulo  8' | 
| 9 September 2001 2 | Valladolid | 1–1 | Valencia | |
| Caminero  30' | Salva  90' | 
| 16 September 2001 3 | Valencia | 1–0 | Las Palmas | |
| Albelda  62' | 
| 23 September 2001 4 | Athletic | 2–2 | Valencia | |
| Etxeberría  64' Carlos García  90' | Ayala  44' Aimar  47' | 
| 4 October 2001 6 | Celta | 1–1 | Valencia | |
| Maurice  48' | Juan Sánchez  6' | 
| 7 October 2001 7 | Valencia | 1–0 | Villarreal | |
| Salva  45' | 
| 25 November 2001 14 | Real Sociedad | 2–0 | Valencia | |
| Jankauskas  38', 65' (pen.) | 
| 13 January 2002 20 | Real Madrid | 1–0 | Valencia | |
| Morientes  72' | 
| 20 January 2002 21 | Valencia | 1–2 | Valladolid | |
| Pellegrino  26' | Luis García  20' Sales  35' | 
| 26 January 2002 22 | Las Palmas | 0–1 | Valencia | |
| Mista  7' | 
| 3 February 2002 23 | Valencia | 2–1 | Athletic | |
| Mista  14' Rufete  66' | Etxeberría  73' | 
| 6 February 2002 24 | Alavés | 1–2 | Valencia | |
| Astudillo  2' | de los Santos  3' Carew  27' | 
| 16 February 2002 26 | Villarreal | 1–1 | Valencia | |
| Arruabarrena  54' | Aimar  83' | 
| 10 March 2002 29 | Valencia | 2–0 | Sevilla | |
| Juan Sánchez  66' Angulo  89' | 
| 24 March 2002 31 | Valencia | 2–1 | Osasuna | |
| Juan Sánchez  78' Baraja  90' | Aloisi  85' | 
| 5 May 2002 37 | Málaga | 0–2 | Valencia | |
| Ayala  35' Fábio Aurélio  45' | 
UEFA Cup
Quarter-finals
| 14 March 2002 | Internazionale   | 1–1 |  Valencia | San Siro, Milan | 
| 21:00 | Materazzi  50' | Report | Rufete  66' | Attendance: 24,184 Referee: Markus Merk (Germany) | 
| 21 March 2002 | Valencia   | 0–1 |  Internazionale | Estadio Mestalla, Valencia | 
| 21:45 | Report | Ventola  4' | Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Claude Colombo (France) | 
Statistics
Players statistics
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | La Liga | Copa del Rey | UEFA Cup | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
| 1 | GK |  ESP | Cañizares | 40 | -26 | 32 | -23 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -3 | 
| 23 | DF |  ESP | Curro Torres | 45 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 
| 2 | DF |  ARG | Pellegrino | 38 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 
| 4 | DF |  ARG | Ayala | 37 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 
| 15 | DF |  ITA | Carboni | 43 | 0 | 32+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 
| 21 | MF |  ARG | Aimar | 40 | 6 | 23+10 | 4 | 0+1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 
| 19 | MF |  ESP | Rufete | 41 | 8 | 27+6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6+1 | 2 | 
| 6 | MF |  ESP | Albelda | 39 | 3 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6+1 | 1 | 
| 14 | MF |  ESP | Vicente | 40 | 3 | 22+9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5+3 | 1 | 
| 10 | FW |  ESP | Angulo | 31 | 6 | 21+5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3+2 | 2 | 
| 9 | FW |  ESP | Salva | 26 | 7 | 19+3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1+2 | 2 | 
| 13 | GK |  ESP | Palop | 10 | -8 | 6+1 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -4 | 
| 5 | DF | .svg.png.webp) SCG | Djukic | 26 | 1 | 14+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7+2 | 1 | 
| 12 | DF |  ESP | Marchena | 22 | 1 | 12+4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 
| 18 | MF |  ARG | Kily González | 32 | 3 | 15+11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 
| 8 | MF |  ESP | Baraja | 18 | 7 | 15+2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 
| 17 | FW |  ESP | Sánchez | 33 | 8 | 12+13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5+3 | 4 | 
| 24 | FW |  ESP | Mista | 34 | 6 | 10+16 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3+5 | 1 | 
| 22 | MF |  URU | De los Santos | 21 | 1 | 12+1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 
| 3 | DF |  BRA | Fábio Aurélio | 19 | 1 | 6+9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 
| 7 | FW |  NOR | Carew | 24 | 1 | 6+9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6+2 | 0 | 
| 11 | FW |  ROU | Ilie | 13 | 5 | 6+4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 
| 20 | DF |  FRA | Angloma | 4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 
| 16 | MF |  ROU | Serban | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | ||
| 31 | DF |  ESP | Navarro | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 
| 26 | MF |  ESP | Jandro | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | ||||
| 25 | GK |  ESP | David Rángel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| DF |  PAR | Amarilla | |||||||||
Topscorers
 Rubén Baraja 7 Rubén Baraja 7
 Salva 5 Salva 5
 Francisco Rufete 5 Francisco Rufete 5
 Angulo 4 Angulo 4
 Pablo Aimar 4 Pablo Aimar 4
 Mista 4 Mista 4










