The match between Levante and Athletic Club, scheduled for this Wednesday at 21:30 hours at the Ciutat de València, has been suspended after a heavy storm left the playing field flooded and inundated various areas of the stadium.
The rain began to fall with particular intensity when the players had already started warming up. The water ended up making the grass unplayable and also affected the tunnel that connects the locker rooms with the field and the press area, in addition to causing power outages.
Given these conditions, referee Quintero González decided to suspend the match, a measure that was agreed upon by both teams.
LaLiga will have to find a new date
The suspension now forces LaLiga, Levante, and Athletic to find a new date to play the match. Athletic has its next league commitment this Saturday, while Levante plays on Sunday.
Neither of the two clubs participates in European competitions, so one of the possibilities would be to take advantage of some of the matchdays reserved for continental tournaments. For the moment, however, no new date has been set.
Both teams left the stadium approximately at the time the match was supposed to start. The Athletic players were expected to return to their hotel, while the Levante players went to their homes.
"It was not a day to play the match. We tried and both teams did our part and the referee decided that the most logical thing was to postpone it," explained Iñaki Williams, captain of Athletic, in statements to Radio Euskadi.
Valencia, under orange alert
The suspension occurs on a day when Valencia was under orange alert for heavy rains. In light of the weather forecast, local authorities had taken preventive measures, including the closure of the park of the old Turia riverbed and the cancellation of various outdoor activities.
The storm reached the stadium area around 21:00 hours, shortly before the match was to begin. The forecasts indicated precipitation that could reach up to 40 liters per square meter.
The intensity of the rain ultimately made it impossible to hold the match and makes the Levante-Athletic one of the most visible consequences of the storm episode affecting this Wednesday the eastern peninsula.