Spain
Primera Division R.F.E.F. Group 1
Sunday 19th February 2023
Kick Off 12.00 On Time!
Cultural y Desportiva Leonesa 0 Algeciras C.F. 1, attendance 3,508
47’ 0-1
@ Estadio Municipal Reino de Leon
Avenida Del Ingeniero Sáenz de Meira
24009 Leon
€15 Admission
No Programme.
From our overnight stay in Lugo we headed further east into Spain today, for what we hoped would be the first of two games, starting with a level three match. The 138 mile drive took around two and a half hours, the early part of which was in foggy conditions with temperatures only a few degrees above freezing. The Galician Massif mountain range offered a very scenic backdrop, with it’s snow covered peaks, but as we got nearer to León the temperature was rising nicely and it was glorious sunshine by the time we parked up a couple of hundred yards from the stadium, which is on the left hand side as you exit from the motorway and head towards the town.
The Estadio Municipal Reino de Leon was opened in 2001 and has an all seated capacity of 13,451. They never get crowds anywhere near filling it these days, although their record crowd here is actually 105 more than the current limit, for a visit of Barcelona ‘B’ back in May 2017 and Spain have also hosted three international games here. Despite being a newish build it does have traditional pylon style floodlights. To say they are magnificent, is doing them an injustice. For those of us who like these sort of things, they are up there with the very best and not just in Spain!
We headed straight for the ticket office and purchased two seats behind the goal, with the ground segregated into four sections. Although the seats were allocated, there would have no problem in sitting wherever you wanted and you were free to wander around at will. The match was 8th versus 15th in the league table, with neither side having been in the greatest of form coming into this. Goal scoring opportunities were at a premium, especially from the home side, who were really poor. The only goal came two minutes into the second half, when a cross from the right was met with a downward header at the far post to win it for the visitors. There was no obvious sign of any visiting fans to greet the goal, but perhaps not surprising for a noon kick off some 530 miles from home, as Algeciras borders Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Spain. Ten minutes later they nearly added a second, but having broken clear they were unable to convert a one on one chance with the ‘keeper. I don’t recall Leonesa troubling the visiting ‘keeper once as they never created anything remotely describable as an attempt on goal.
We were back on the motorway less than ten minutes after the final whistle, heading further east for a second tier match in Burgos.
