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Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent
VALENCIA, Spain — César Tárrega does not score many goals, but he knew exactly how he was going to celebrate when he gave Valencia the lead against Real Betis. The central defender peeled away and grabbed a shirt which had printed on it: “We will come through this together.”
That has been the message across Spanish football since deadly floods hit Valencia and the surrounding areas at the end of October, leading to 221 fatalities. That was the message at Mestalla on Saturday when, after three postponed games, Valencia finally made a hugely emotional return to LaLiga action.
This was the club’s first fixture since a year’s worth of rain fell on the region in just eight hours on Oct. 29, leading to flash floods across many towns and villages. It was Valencia’s first home game since Oct. 21. It would prove their first win since Sept. 21, too, but it was an occasion that meant more than three points as football became a vehicle to remember the victims of the flooding.
Tárrega was one of many inside the stadium brought to tears by the homage laid on by the club before the game. The 22-year-old’s family home in Aldaya, to the east of Valencia, was one of those flooded. The lives of his friends and family have since been turned upside down. It will take months, if not longer, to repair the damage inflicted on Aldaya and many other towns like it. It felt fitting that he should score the first goal.
Betis did briefly level, Aitor Ruibal‘s free kick turned by Valencia striker Hugo Duro into his own net. Ruibal started to celebrate but quickly apologised to the home fans, instead making his way over to the bench to grab the flag of the Valencian community. He held it aloft with teammate Marc Bartra; then he apologised again.
Duro, meanwhile, made amends with two quick-fire goals in the second half as Valencia went on to win 4-2, climbing off the foot of the table courtesy of just their second win of the campaign. It completed a roller coaster of an afternoon for the forward, who was another who had been overcome with emotion in the moving moments before the game, like Tárrega and many fans among the 43,000 crowd.
“I knew I would cry,” Duro told reporters postmatch. “The last few weeks have been tough for Valencia, and there is still a lot of work to be done. It’s hard to see the city as it is, but the homage was incredible, and I think the performance lived up to the occasion.
“I’m someone who cries easily. Experiencing this all in person is tough because it’s like there has been a war here. Since I got wind of what the homage would be, I knew I was going to cry. In the team talk I was already holding tears back. We wanted to pay homage with a win, but the points were secondary today.”
With the city’s metro still out of action and many people’s cars washed away, Valencia laid on buses to Mestalla for supporters in the affected areas. They also pledged to donate all the matchday revenue to help support and regenerate the towns and villages hit hardest. Owner Peter Lim said he would personally match the figure raised, too.
Before the match, a giant Senyera — the flag of the region — covered the playing surface as the two sets of players emerged from the tunnel to the song “Voces de Valencia,” carrying a giant black memorial symbol onto the pitch.
The region’s anthem was then played as an enormous tifo was unveiled displaying the names of the towns and villages affected. It was at this point, and in the minute’s silence that followed, that some of Valencia’s players, dressed in black instead of their usual white as a mark of respect, became visibly affected by the occasion.
It has been a gruelling month for them and a testing time for Spanish football. On Nov. 2, Valencia were supposed to host Real Madrid. Instead, Mestalla was being used as a makeshift warehouse for aid. That was one of six games eventually cancelled that weekend across the top two divisions in the country, including matches involving Villarreal and Levante.
Many felt that was not enough. Those were the clubs directly implicated, but there were players and staff at almost every team with some link to the area either directly or indirectly. Osasuna coach Vicente Moreno’s hometown of Massanassa was one of those flooded. He took charge of his team on the Saturday, and on the Sunday returned home, shovel in hand, to help with the cleanup.
Barça’s Ferran Torres, the Valencia-born forward currently out injured, announced that he did not have the strength to attend his team’s derby against Espanyol. Girona‘s Miguel Gutiérrez dedicated his goal to a friend whose mother was missing. The list goes on. Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone said it made no sense for football to continue.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas argued the game continued to place the spotlight on the catastrophe. Television broadcasts displayed a phone number on the screen whereby, in collaboration with the Red Cross, viewers could pledge money to help the victims. Clubs across Spain chipped in. Real Madrid donated €1 million. Castellón raised €410,000. Real Betis gave €100,000.
At a lower level, the devastation has been much greater. Clubs like seventh-tier CF Paiporta have seen their grounds completely destroyed by the flooding.
Meanwhile, Valencia’s Copa del Rey tie against Parla Escuela was also delayed, and the Nov. 9 trip to Espanyol was then postponed. The other clubs in the region did begin to return to action, though. Villarreal did so wearing black. Levante, also based within the city of Valencia, did so with a special shirt coated in a mud effect to represent the catastrophic images seen as the muddy waters subsided to reveal wrecked cars piled up and impossibly high water marks on buildings.
On Saturday, it was Valencia’s turn. Arrigo Sacchi famously said football is the most important of the least important things, but it is also so often linked to the most important things in one way or another. That was certainly the case at Mestalla, as football provided a platform for unity, support and respect.
“I believe that these difficult moments we have been through have made us see that together we can change things and try to help people recover their lives,” Valencia coach Rubén Baraja said in his postmatch news conference. “We have to work hard so that people can have a normal life again.
“Today may well have been the most emotional moment I’ve experienced in football, certainly one of them. The emotions, the atmosphere, the respect the Mestalla showed, it gave you goose bumps. The victory is dedicated to all of the victims and all of those affected. We want them to know that their club will help them and support in them in the reconstruction of the [towns and villages].”
And it may well have been only a small detail in the grand scheme of things, but there could not have been a more suitable opening scorer than Tárrega.
“César’s one of those who’s been really close to this tragedy,” Diego López, scorer of the fourth goal, told reporters.
“He’s from one of the places which has been hit the hardest. He deserved that goal. He has suffered a lot and there’s no better reward for him than scoring a goal and being able to dedicate it to everyone from Valencia and his hometown. I am delighted for him.”
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