Let me start by saying, Spanish football isn’t my world. Somehow if you are a Calcio fan and love Italy, Spain sits as the direct rival, and indeed you will often hear mutterings of discontent in an International or European game if the ref happens to be from Espana. That isn’t to say that in earlier days I hadn’t done the “big two”, and I am glad I did visit the Camp Nou and the Bernabeu back then, as I wouldn’t cross the road to watch them now!
That said, Spain might ultimately hold the key to my future, as it might just be able to provide my Russian partner and I a place we can call home. That journey might be long, but it took a major step forward when we got engaged on this particular trip. Should we end up settling in Spain, I thought I better show greater enthusiasm for the game there, and I started to pay attention to league tables and fixtures ahead of our trip. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my Spanish roster would go from merely two games to six in the space of 10 days, but that is what happened, with two midweek rounds seeing Valencia hosting Valladolid and Villareal thrown in. At a stroke I had seen more “V” ’s than in the rest of my football viewing days. I have always had a soft spot for Valencia, and recall cheering for them fruitlessly in two Champions League finals versus Real Madrid and then Bayern Munich. Something about that Valencian badge, the eye-catching red and yellow design topped by a bat of all things. The bat is of course the symbol of the city, a source of good luck or so the myth goes, with the mother of all bats sitting above City Hall in the centre as living proof of the eternal relationship between Valencia and the bat.
I have always been aware of the name Levante, I had even twigged that they had a bat on their badge too, and mentally noted some time ago that they must play in the region of Valencia, but lo and behold, they are a Valencian city club too. Given that pearl of wisdom, it made going to have a peek at a La Liga 2 game all the more possible. It would however prove to be one of the trickiest tickets I have acquired over the years. Their website looked simple enough, just as Valencia’s was, however, as the week of the match arrived they still weren’t letting anyone buy any briefs. It was all very odd, and then on the Monday ahead of the Saturday game, the website ticketing opened up, but the fly in the ointment, it was only open for season ticket holders?! In order to get as big a crowd as possible for the final push to promotion, the match with Alaves (promotion rivals) would see every season ticket holder given the opportunity to apply for two free match tickets. It was a commendable idea, but mighty frustrating from a visiting perspective.
On the morning of the day prior to the game, Tania and I headed to the Cuidat de Levante stadium ahead of going into the city for a day of sightseeing. Unbelievably every single ticket had gone! Somehow I knew some fans would be looking to turn a gift horse of two free tickets into a mini business so I resolved to head back ahead of kick off and chance my arm. This theory of ticketless hope has rendered me success in the past. A first attempt was in the unlikely suburbs of Kobe, Japan 2002, where a confident Eastern European trader, having fleeced us a considerable sum, then tried to slip us an envelope with the wrong match tickets. A morsel of swift feet caught up with him and he finally handed over the Sweden v Nigeria briefs, instead of stiffing us with Mexico v Ecuador at a venue way off the beaten track. Leipzig four years later saw an alleyway transaction with a Cockney bloke, once again at a significant mark up, but these games were World Cup matches, and especially having travelled halfway around the world to Japan, we had to see at least one game. Curiously, my only occasion when I was unsuccessful getting a late in the day ticket was some twenty years earlier, and nothing to do with football. Japan, my favourite band (not country), were on a farewell tour of the UK and they were playing at the Playhouse in Edinburgh. I stood outside going up and down the line waiting to get in with a £20 note (tickets were £6) and no one would sell. It remains one of life’s regrets, as I never managed to see them live.
Anyway, back to the plot, and some 90 minutes before kick off I am outside Levante’s ground sizing people up for a potential tout look-alike, you can usually spot them. Just by the ticket office window seemed a good place, as people were coming to collect tickets if they hadn’t gone for the print at home option and there was a constant coming and going. Two English lads were busy with two Spanish guys trying to transfer online tickets from phone to phone, this gave me encouragement. Lurking nearby was a potential tout and I merely enquired if he knew of anyone selling a ticket. “How many was I after”, with “just one” my response. Man A then introduced me to man B, with a price for a ticket duly agreed for a “free ticket”, where upon cash being sighted, his inside jacket pocket was opened to reveal it was awash with printed tickets. I was given a ticket in the name of an Isabel somebody, a bit of a far-fetched stretch of the imagination, but hey, my Mestalla trip had given me confidence that as long as the barcode worked, no one was checking any further, and so it proved.
Whether business was slow for these guys I am unsure, but if they had secured a block of tickets in my row, one other lad had bought from them as he was sitting beside me, but the next 6 seats were about the only 6 in the entire stadium that remained empty. It was good to be in, and great to enjoy such a large crowd. What a stadium too, not as imposing or impressive as the Mestalla, but modern, plenty of leg room and every seat had a cracking view, I was going to enjoy this occasion.
Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain, significantly smaller than Madrid and Barcelona, and while tourism is part of the city fabric, it is not nearly as congested as the aforementioned juggernauts of Spanish tourism. As long as you visit Valencia outside Las Fallas festival (a spectacular week in the city, in a country that really knows how to put on a festival) in March, you’ll always find accommodation. Tania and I were pushing the boat out to celebrate our engagement and we stayed in the magnificent Las Arenas Hotel down by the fabulous beach front. This area is a good piece from the centre of the city, and if just visiting for a weekend, a more central location is recommended. The bus and tram network is fantastic though.
Levante is the oldest team in Valencia, they were established 10 years before the team that bears the city name came along in 1919. The club name is taken from the autonomous area of the city, in the northern suburbs of Valencia. The name Levante is also used to describe part of the Iberian peninsula, the Eastern coast of Spain with Levantar meaning sunrise in Spanish, and if you are up early enough, living by the sea you’ll catch some stunning rises.
In 1909 Levante started out playing in the sizable docklands region of Valencia, something that started the club off on a route of being the team of the working class. The club would merge in 1939 with Gimnastico Futbol Club, mostly due to a necessity, where Levante’s ground had been bombed, while Gimnastico had lost almost all their players. Levante UD was born, the name the club carries to this day.
It wasn’t until 1963/64 that Levante debuted in the top flight, La Liga, a proud double was done over Valencia that season. The following campaign might have included a famous 5-1 win at home to Barcelona, but they proved that old adage right, the second campaign is always a trickier animal, and down they went. They would then dot around between the second and third tiers for nearly 4 decades, but one morsel of delight in that period was having Johan Cruyff play for the club for half a season, an inspired signing that sparked extra enthusiasm in attendances.
It took until 2004/05 for the club to be back amongst the elite, and while they haven’t managed to constantly establish themselves, they are a perennial yo-yo act. Two notable things have happened in those La Liga seasons though, in October 2011 Levante’s run of the mill 3-2 win over Real Sociedad is engraved into Levante folklore as the club proudly sat top of the table for the first time in the clubs history. They weren’t to maintain it, but they did finish in a commendable 6th place, a club high finish, and that resulted in qualification for the Europa League, where they made it to the last sixteen, going down eventually to Russian outfit Rubin Kazan 2-0 on aggregate, but only after extra time in the capital of Tatarstan. Motherwell would provide the Spanish club a first European bow, with Levante winning both legs by a 3-0 aggregate margin. FC Twente Enschede, Hannover 96 and Helsingborg provided the group opposition for which they emerged in second place, ahead of beating Olympiakos Piraeus 4-0 over the two games before losing to Kazan.
Estadio Cuidat de Valencia, capacity 26,354 was built in 1969, but has had a fine makeover since then. The stadium has hosted one Spain International, a 5-1 win over Macedonia in 2014. It is located in a residential area in the north of the city. There are no bars immediately outside, but an Italian restaurant and a small shopping centre are directly across from the ground. One or two bars within walking distance are out on the nearest main street and very much favoured venues for those looking for a pre-match libation. Stalls selling souvenirs and food are all in the proximity of the stadium with the club shop also open.
With just two relegations and immediate return to La Liga from the first one sitting on the CV since 2010/11, my visit to the Cuidat de Valencia stadium coincided with the next big push for immediate promotion, and my goodness what a tight race it was proving to be. A blanket could be thrown over the top 5, where only two would go up automatically, leaving the others to take their chances in the play offs for a final place.
Deportivo Alaves from the Basque Country were in town, and just ahead of Levante in the table. Alaves is a name that even I was familiar with, but only because of the incredible UEFA Cup Final versus Liverpool in 2001 that finally ended 5-4 for the Merseysiders, courtesy of an extra-time “golden” goal that was cruelly an own goal. They accounted for Inter Milan and Kaiserslautern (9-2 on aggregate) en route to the final, but it has been nearly 20 years since they last graced the Spanish top flight.
On this showing Alaves might come up short of promotion this season as they were largely toothless in this encounter. Perhaps the sight of a full stadium had done the job and inspired Levante as they quickly took control of the game. Scoring early calmed any nerves and delighted the huge crowd, but when the second goal was swept home well before the break, the responsibility for making a game of it fell to the visitors, and in this regard they were totally lacking. A relatively sterile second half was played out easily by Levante, who jumped above their rivals with the win, but in a race that will twist a number of times until the final action, failing to score in the next two games, including a 0-0 draw with relegated Ibiza at home haven’t helped them build on the Alaves win.
How to get there
The stadium is within walking distance of the centre, allow 30/40 minutes, but Tram 3 (red line) in direction of Rafabunyol (get off a Machado) will get you there quicker from outside the railway station, or Buses 70 or 11 will do the job too.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 