THE VITALS:

Team: Valencia

Brand: Nike

Era: 2003-04 (Used for the 2003-04 La Liga season, and the 2004 UEFA Cup Final)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes in very good condition; an excellent feat, given the age of the shirt. There are signs of bobbling and wear, and the Toyota sponsor is starting to wear also, however the Nike swoosh and club crest are in excellent condition. Please also be mindful that on the inside of the shirt, it does read: J MURPHY, which has been written in biro.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19.5 inches

Shirt Length: 27 inches 

Made by Nike ahead of the 2003-04 season, this shirt fits into the rare breed made at the time where the dimensions were true to the size! The dimensions provide a comfortable size small fit, and may in fact, be suitable for a size medium who prefers a tighter fitting shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

After a disappointing 2002-03 season where Valencia not only relinquished their La Liga title, but wouldn’t even qualify for Champions League football; Rafa Benitez and ‘Los Che’, would see: Kily Gonzalez, John Carew and Salva all move on, while Ricardo Oliveira and Jorge Lopez came in to help solve the club’s poor goalscoring record. Valencia would set an incredible pace at the start of the season; defeating: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona before November, and ended 2003 having lost just twice in La Liga. The club would go on from strength to strength in 2004 as they seized control at the top of the table from Real Madrid and holding off the challenge from a resurgent Barcelona to reclaim the title, before capping off a glorious season by defeating Marseille in the UEFA Cup final; the perfect present to the club by the soon to departing coach Benitez! Moreover, Miguel Mista plugged the Valencia goal scoring gap with a fabulous 19 goal haul in La Liga! This classic Valencia home shirt would be defined by the black sleeves and the plunging collar while this would be the first season where Toyota would be the club’s main shirt sponsor.

The notable players that season were:

Mista, Juan Sanchez, Ricardo Oliveira, Vicente, Pablo Aimar, Xisco, Miguel Angel Angulo, Mohamed Sissoko, David Albelda, Ruben Baraja, Mauricio Pellegrino, Fabio Aurelio, Roberto Ayala, Carlos Marchena, Amedeo Carboni, David Navarro, Raul Albiol, Santiago Canizares, Andres Palop