Earth moves under Valladolid's feet to spoil La Liga return against Barcelona | Sid Lowe

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Shambolic pitch and a late equaliser ruled out by VAR put a dampener on the little club’s first night back in the big time

Real Valladolid’s big night had almost arrived but the pitch hadn’t. The first delivery, from down the road in Ávila, was no good and got sent back; the second was loaded on to trucks in Portugal only for someone to steal the petrol from their tanks, or so they said; and it was Thursday by the time the final strips of turf were rolled out, all-too-briefly covering the 105m by 68m space that had stood bare since promotion. By then, there were just two days to go before the José Zorrilla staged a first division game for the first time in four years. Their return had been a bit of a miracle; now they needed another.

They didn’t get it.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/27/the-earth-moves-at-valladolid-to-spoil-la-liga-return-against-barcelona

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