La Liga: CD Leganes- Levante UD

Leganes are tiny and it is a tremendous achievement to have secured survival and a third straight year in La Liga with next season being just the third at this level in their history. They started the first (last season) with a "scratch and sniff" team shirt (pictured) and free cucumbers for visitors ,their nickname is the cucumber growers by the way ! They finished 17th with 34 points and were delighted with that, this season they were more business like and already have an additional six points on board and cannot finish lower than 17th, with three games left to play.They have picked up 70% of points here at their tiny Leganes Butarque stadium on the outskirts of Madrid, but it is not as small as in previous years and has twice been extended since promotion to the top flight , it now holds circa 11,000 and doubtless they will continue to upgrade with the now increased prize money in Spain , they collected  €80 m in 16-17 and that goes a long way at a team who were playing 3rd tier football four seasons ago and their arrival in the top flight was perfectly timed alongside the more level financial playing field.

Levante have more history, but were also looking to re-establish themselves in the top flight after promotion at the first attempt in 16-17, they had spent the previous six in La Liga, after five promotion/relegation campiagns in the seven prior to that yo-yoing between the top two divisions. They are always going to be playing third fiddle to Valencia and Villarreal in the region, but will be looking to push on a little next season.

Both teams will have been delighted with how this campaign played out, but next season might well be tougher, as there was only really one relegation spot to avoid for much of this. Anyway, surely time to relax a little and enjoy the final three starts, they are in the televised game this evening and can look to entertain supporters and viewers. Home head coach Asier Garitano spoke about this yesterday and said the most important thing was that we "enjoy the games we have left ", he added "Levante also have the peace of mind of having their goal fulfilled, they come with a very good dynamic, they will want to compete." Finishing with his expectation of a "great" match. His team are without central midfielder and perhaps best player in suspended Gabriel and they have won 1/6 in his absence, but the sole victory was the only home game in that sequence and I don't think we should read too much into that at this stage of the season.

There was a lot of flowery language coming out of the visiting camp with talk of not giving up just because the "fish has been sold", but the head coach also spoke about the mental wear and tear and again, like his counterpart, of wanting to enjoy the remaining fixtures.

I think it is important that on the few occasions that players can play without pressure that they are allowed to do so and to remember for a game or two why they started playing football. Open game in prospect.

1.25 units "over" 2.5 goals 2.20 general quote............bigger in a place or two.