Two Champions League final defeats – why Mendieta remains a cult hero

Two Champions League finals, two defeats, no silverware – but football fans around the turn of the century will not forget Gaizka Mendieta or Valencia.

For supporters in the UK, or in this writer’s case Ireland, Mendieta came out of nowhere in 1999 to become one of Europe’s most exciting players.

His peak would not last too long, but what a peak it was.

To celebrate the BBC having Champions League highlights this season, we will look at a Champions League cult hero each week there are games.

In the days of fledgling internet, before social media existed – and unless you had satellite television – the free-to-air Champions League and major tournaments were often the way you discovered foreign players for the first time.

Mendieta was in his mid-20s when Valencia, for two years, were the talk of the town.

In 1999-2000, the Basque playmaker ran things for Hector Cuper’s Los Che. The classy midfielder, his hair blowing in the wind as he drifted past players, made key passes and scored significant goals.

He had a rocket of a shot from long range, quick feet that helped him elude opponents and could play centrally or on the wing. In summary, the ideal attacking midfielder.

Other stars of the team were Spain goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, France full-back Jocelyn Angloma, future Barcelona midfielder Gerard and Argentina forward Claudio Lopez.

Valencia had to come through a round of qualifying and were then unbeaten as they finished top of a group containing Bayern Munich.

Mendieta scored a fantastic strike in a 2-1 win at Rangers in that group, with a perfect hit on the bounce from the edge of the box that went in via the post.

“Mendieta is the type of player every team would love to have – not just skilful, but with imagination, and full of running and working for his team,” said Rangers boss Dick Advocaat afterwards., external

They also got through a second group stage – a short-lived Uefa addition – with Mendieta scoring penalties against Fiorentina and Bordeaux.

Then they eliminated Lazio and Barcelona in the two knockout rounds. He scored in both legs against Barcelona, including a fine 20-yard effort at the Nou Camp.

Mendieta’s performances were so impressive that Lazio and Barcelona ended up being his next two clubs.

Sadly for Valencia, they played European royalty Real Madrid in the final and lost 3-0.

The following year, nobody was going to underestimate Valencia or Mendieta – yet teams still struggled to stop them.

Vicente, Didier Deschamps, Pablo Aimar and John Carew were some of the iconic names to join them that season.

It was a season that will be especially remembered by a host of English teams’ fans.

Valencia finished above Manchester United in the second group phase – then knocked out Arsenal in the quarter-finals and Leeds United in the semi-finals.

Mendieta netted their third in the second leg against Leeds, with a wonderful low drive into the bottom corner from distance.

Bayern Munich awaited in the final in the San Siro. Three minutes in, Mendieta was fouled and stepped up to take the penalty, slotting it into the bottom corner beyond Oliver Kahn.

But Bayern came back, with Stefan Effenberg scoring a second-half penalty – and the German giants won the shootout 5-4. Captain Mendieta converted his spot-kick.

Mendieta was named the best midfielder at the Uefa Club Football Awards in both those seasons.

And that was the end of that.

“Back then, it was very painful but now we realise how difficult it is to achieve a Champions League final place and we did that two years in a row,” he told BBC Sport in an interview in 2013.

“In perspective, we can enjoy that achievement more as when you lose finals you do not appreciate them enough – truly, it was an incredible achievement.”

Mendieta left for Lazio in the summer of 2001 for £29m, the sixth biggest transfer of all time.

His time in Rome was a nightmare and a loan spell at Barcelona followed before he ended his career with Middlesbrough, where he won the 2004 League Cup.

All 40 of his Spain caps came between 1999 and 2002.

After retiring he settled down in nearby Yarm with his English wife Helen.

And Valencia? They never reached another Champions League final. In fact they were not even in it in 2001-02.

They are one of only three teams – along with Atletico Madrid and French side Reims – to reach multiple European Cup finals without winning one.

“It took a while to build that team up,” he told the BBC in 2009. “Getting the right players takes time and once they were there a lot of them stayed for quite a few seasons – even after I left they won the league and the Uefa Cup.

“For a lot of the players it was the best moment in their careers. We believed in something, believed we could create something, and when you have that belief in sport you feel you are capable of anything.

“I look back now and I am thrilled at how much I achieved. When I started to play football I never dreamed I could reach the level I got to.”

Mendieta now works as a football pundit and is involved in several businesses.

The BBC will show highlights of the Champions League this season.

For the next three years, from 22:00 on the Wednesday of Champions League matchweeks, there will be match-by-match highlights available on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, plus a highlights show on BBC One at 22:40.

There will also be clips online and on social media.