This Is Orriols

"This Is Orriols", a saying borrowed from Liverpool Football Club that is commonly used by Levante fans as not only a statement of pride of the neighborhood in Valencia where Levante U.D.'s stadium is located. Fans feel pride and a sense of strength in the defense of their home turf when they use the three word phrase. Levante players have made el Ciutat de Valencia a fortress, where rivals have to bleed to take any points away in their visits to Orriols.

Just ask Real Madrid, who just recently needed to bleed (Quite literally, who hasn't heard about Cristiano's "broken" eyelid or seen pictures of his bloodied face?), battle to the extremes and, frankly, in a word cheat its way to a nailbiting late 1-2 win to scrape by with 3 points.

We do not care to analyze the contoversial decision making of Muñiz Fernandez, the ref last Sunday night. Much more importantly, we would like to recognize just how far Levante have come. Levante have become such a fierce and feared opponent in La Liga to the point that Real Madrid, 32 Liga winners, had to wait three seasons under José Mourinho to win away against Levante, and was only able to do so under some very adverse weather conditions and with some very oportunistic help from the officials, receiving a penalty that probably should have been a free kick, and a late free kick (that produced Morata's winning goal) that certainly should have gone the other way as a foul seconds before against Obafemi Martins.

Orriols, once a ground was belittled, has become one of the toughest places to play in Spain. The way Madrid won is a credit to Levante, its growth, all that it has become as a team and a club. All granotas should be proud of what is being accomplished in such a short period of time, all coming together to chant in unison:

THIS IS ORRIOLS

Levante Club President Quico Catalan poses
with former LFC Manager Rafa Benitez

"Next Year Levante-Liverpool!"
It is no secret that many Levante fans admire Liverpool Football Club and its supporters, the originators of the "This Is..." phrase as well as the "Never Walk Alone" chant, that even played in Oviedo this past weekend. Given the tremendous European success of Liverpool, it would seem it had little in common with Levante. However, both are established in port cities and are known for their  diehard supporters.

What better example than when Levante qualified for Europe last season, one of the chants that fans belted out at the top of there lungs from the Four Stations Fountain celebrations was "Next year, Levante vs. Liverpool!" and indeed just a few years ago when Levante celebrated its 100 year anniversary, club president Quico Catalan travelled all the way to Liverpool just to see about the possibility of scheduling a 100 year celebratory preseason friendly with the Reds in the Ciutat de València stadium. Levante's invitation in the end was declined. Once Rafa Benitez was fired and a host of Spanish players were shipped out, the English club had little interest in visiting Spain.

Who would have thought that just 3 seasons later, Levante conceivably could play Liverpool F.C., and not in some meaningless friendly, but instead on the european stage in a Europa League match?

While Levante await the remote possibility of playing Liverpool in the future, they are certainly earning the right to use the famous phrase patented by Liverpool. So far this season, Real Madrid are the only team to leave Ciutat de València stadium with 3 points.