Spain
Lliga Communitat Valencia
Primera Division
Grupo 2
Saturday 15th February 2025
Kick Off 17.15 Actual 17.17
Jupiter C.F. Massamagrell 0 Club Deportivo Turis 2, attendance 244
42’ 0-1
63’ 0-2
@ Campo Municipal de Massamagrell
Calle Jacinto Benavente 1
46130 Massamagrell
No Admission or Programme.
Anyone who’s been to Spain to watch football will know planning games is not easy, even in the top two levels, due to poor administration and a real lack of reliable websites, with confirmed kick off times often not released until a couple of days before the game! I’ve lost count of the number of games that were planned for this slot on our itinerary, with some games showing as different kick off times/days on as many as four different websites and some club websites that even had the wrong days/kick offs to what was actually the case. Anyway, late on Wednesday evening, Jupiter had posted on their Instagram page that this was a 17.15 kick off. Even better, when checking where it was, it was unbelievably just a seven minute drive from where we’d already booked our hotel, just north east of Valencia, believing we would be doing a game just south of here originally.
This was level 7 football in Spain, with this being 11th versus 13th in the league table. Typically for this level it is a 3G pitch, with spectator access limited to one side and up to the 18 yard box at one end. There are two covered stands, both with four rows of concrete steps, that were used to sit on, rather than stand. There is a small clubhouse behind here, where snacks and drinks were available at very reasonable prices, whilst the dugouts are on the far side.
Despite the low level, this was by far the best game so far this weekend, as far as open and attacking football went. It was a far higher standard than I’d been expecting (my first experience of this level here) with two teams trying to win the game, with non of the cheating and rolling about that blights the Spanish game in the higher echelons. Five minutes before halftime Jupiter hit the post, with the best chance of the half, then two minutes later they found themselves behind, when a quick break down the right was finished into the far corner from the angle of the 18 yard box. Just after the hour mark Turis made it 0-2, when they broke quickly from their own box and finished low into the bottom corner with a shot that gave the ‘keeper no chance. Following the goal there was a scuffle between the two ‘benches’, which ended with both managers receiving red cards. With four minutes left, Jupiter had a man sent off, having committed a ‘last man’ foul trying to prevent another quick breakaway. Even with ten men they still pushed forward and despite penning Turis deep in their own half, the nearest they came to pulling a goal back was when they hit the post five minutes into stoppage time.
