La Liga’s smallest club have never felt truly secure but the 3-0 win against Las Palmas means the sun may not be setting on their debut season after all
The chant set off round Butarque as a protest and came back as a party. “El Lega es de primera,” it runs – Leganés belong in primera – and the first time they launched into it, in the 12th minute of Wednesday night’s match against Las Palmas, it was a coordinated complaint, driven by anger and accompanied by banners and black cloth, sung by supporters scared that their status might be taken away. By the time they dared do it again 60 minutes later, it sounded different, hung on hope: vindication had turned to celebration. Leganés really might belong there, after all; now they believe Butarque will be back, with its sunsets, AC/DC soundtrack, and the smell of sizzling pork on portable stoves. With its football team, too.
Leganés were 2-0 up, thanks to two absurd gifts from their opponents – “accidents”, coach Quique Setien called them – and a third soon followed from a penalty that probably wasn’t, bringing another chant with it. “Bounce, Butarque, bounce!”, it went, and so they did. There was a Mexican wave, while out on the pitch someone dared to do a backheel, olés ringing out. At long last, the paralysis was broken and the fear subsided. In six minutes, Leganés had scored 10% of the goals they’ve got all season, securing a victory that sent Osasuna down mathematically, all but condemned Granada – they trail by 10 points and the head-to-head record – and left Sporting Gijón, struggling from the start, six points from safety. From them, in other words.
from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2p7UEXk
