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La Liga

The Spanish Corner: Levante are the real fairytale

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid lost in Spain this weekend as Garreth Nunn profiles La Liga yo-yo side Levante.

IN THE WEEK of Britain’s royal wedding, the word ‘fairytale’ has been overused. But it certainly applies to Levante’s season.

They are not a household name – even in Spain – but what they have achieved this season has been miraculous.

On 22 January they suffered a 4-1 away to Sevilla and were at the foot of the table. If you were to compare Levante to any English team you wouldn’t go fair wrong with West Brom. They are Spain’s yo-yo team. So what’s different this year? Faith, it seems.

Levante are famous for very few things. They take their name from a wind which is common on beaches in Spain which used to blow across one of their first pitches. Although they were formed before their famous neighbours, Valencia CF, they have always been in the shadows it seems.

Their claim to fame was once having Dutch legend Johan Cryuff at the club for a brief spell in 1981. In 2005, five points clear of relegation the club president fired Bernd Schuster with five games to go. The result was that the team failed to pick up anymore points and were relegated. But that was only the start of their worries.

Desperate Times

The club bounced back up and stayed for more than a season but money became an issue. Stories about players only getting 10% of their salary, if they were lucky, were common in the Spanish press.

Stories of players doing extra training sessions to avoid taking phone calls from banks (mobile phones were banned at the club) at first were funny until it became clear that it was true. At one game the players refused to move for the first minute as a form of demonstration. The Levante board tried to sell everything that wasn’t nailed down.

In the end an agreement was reached by the Spanish FA who agreed to organize a benefit game were all money raised would go to the players. Levante still couldn’t stop the slide and ended up the Second Division and for some it was just a matter of time before the gates were locked and the team disappeared.

All Together Now

A 4-1 defeat away to Atletico de Madrid in the Vicente Calderon. The keeper has made a howler. Suddenly a trolley with metal boxes containing the team’s kits etc is pushed towards the team bus. Journalists stop and look.

This can’t be right! Sergio Ballesteros, team captain, is the one pushing the trolley out. Other players follow with bags and equipment. This is no team of prima donnas. All are disappointed but also there is a sense of contentment in the air. Levante have just blown any chance of European football next year but the fact that they even got to think about it speaks volumes for coach Luis Garcia.

A former youth product of Atletico de Madrid, his career was cut short by injury. Last year after a disastrous start to the season he managed to guide the club to promotion. This season with the team at the bottom of the table, the Levante board did what is seen are unfathomable here in Spain: Keeping faith with the manager.

The gamble has more than paid off. But it is the gamble taken and faith that Garcia has with Man City loanee, Felipe Caicedo, which has really shocked Spain. Twelve goals have almost certainly sealed their place for next season. After a disappointing spell last year at Malaga, few expected Caicedo to do much. But he has turned his career around and fans have made video tributes on YouTube to him with the only sad note is that the club will struggle to keep him.

So this week saw Levante play Sporting. A draw would almost keep the two up. While not a pretty game, the fans won’t complain too much as they have another year of seeing Real and Barça come to town. If Garcia continues to improve, don’t be surprised to see teams from other European leagues sampling the famous wind that blows around the Valencia coast.

Around The Grounds

Why? Why? Why? Anyone expecting another Mourinho outburst was to be very let down. He had an almost ‘Uriah Heep’ (The character from David Copperfield not the band) feel about him as he accepted defeat graciously.

A rare error from Iker Casillas helped Zaragoza on their way and saw Real lose at home and also fail to win in 3 in the Santiago Bernabeu. Mourinho is getting support from everywhere including tennis star Rafa Nadal for the forthcoming match with Barça. What all this is proving is that there is an answer to one of Spain’s daily newspapers who ran with the headline a few weeks ago ‘Can there ever be too many El Clasicos?’ The answer is clear enough.

Watch Real Madrid lose here

So Real lose to relegation-threatened opponents, Barça must do likewise. Note that Mourinho or Pep were not criticised for fielding weak teams! Nothing should be taken from Real Sociedad though who but in the work and caught a team napping. The Spanish press are already in overdrive over the appointment of Belgian official Frank De Bleeckere for the second leg of the semifinal of the Champions league. AS claim the appointment will help Barça. It will all be over soon, thank god!

Watch Barcelona lose here

Would Getafe be able to do Madrid rivals Atleti a favour and beat Villarreal and open up the Champions League fourth spot? At half time it looked so. Getafe are very close to the danger zone and with other teams winning they had hoped to find the ‘Yellow Submarines’ still licking their wounds after the mauling they suffered at Oporto midweek. But as in that game it was a game of two halves for Villarreal.

They went in one down but came out and scored twice and have an eight-point cushion on the Sevilla and Atletico de Madrid.

Don’t expect to see too much time dedicated to the bottom of the table in the Spanish press. The writing is on the wall for Almería and Hércules. Both lost and both are losing ground.

Almería will almost certainly be relegated next weekend and Hércules although a little closer look doomed.

In the Second Division Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano took steps to sealing promotion. All the more impressive considering that neither set of players have been paid in months.

Garreth Nunn is the co-founder and writer for the website www.madridatleticos.com. He contributes to a weekly podcast called ‘This is Atleti’ that gives insight into following a Spanish Club and is available via iTunes. You can find him also on Twitter: @madridatleticos and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/madridatleticos