Alavés sealed their promotion to the First Division tonight, the sixth in their history, after winning with a penalty goal scored by Asier Villalibre at minute 128, a penalty by the hands of Rober Pier that the referee did not see and the VAR did warn leaving Levante plunged into a terrible drama, when they were already savoring promotion because the goalless draw in the second leg gave them promotion due to their best ranking in the League, in which they were third.
Just like what happened a week ago in Mendizorroza, the match was very close, with many nerves and inaccuracies. Luis García Plaza’s team needed victory and that led him to seek possession. From the initial whistle he advanced his lines further and came to lock Levante in his area, which feels comfortable without exposing and looking for the counters.
The game began with two missed chances, the first one against De Frutos and then a shot from Asier Villalibre that went over the crossbar. The game became entangled in the center of the field and there was not much more news in the areas until two appearances by the locals, by Vezo and the Moroccan Bouldini and another by Alavés through Tenaglia. The second part began without changes and Alavés accentuated their dominance from the start.
After two minutes there was already a very clear double chance by Alavés. The local goalkeeper, Femenías, made two saving saves; he shot from the front of Miguel de la Fuente and then with his foot he took another from Luis Rioja.
At 57 again Asier Villalibre was close to scoring, but the header of the player on loan from Athletic went high. After the hour of play, the changes came from the two teams. At Levante Javi Calleja changed his striker. He took out Bouldini and entered the most veteran of all, Roberto Soldado.
The lack of goals and the uncertainty of the score was felt as the end drew near and everything indicated that extra time was going to be reached after two games without a single goal being seen. Nobody was taking risks, and even less in the areas, although the game was very imprecise, with a lot of nerves.
Soldado had his chance on a counterattack in minute 77. The reply came in a shot from Abde Rebbach that missed the target by very little. Extra time was reached with both teams very tired. In the first half, De Frutos crashed a ball against the crossbar. Later, Sylla missed his shot at the squad. Pepelu once again took a free kick against the crossbar and Femenías prevented Toni Moya from scoring.
At minute 128, Rober Pier’s penalty arrived and the drama began for the Ciutat de València. After the protests of the Alavés players, the referee was called from the VOR room and in the end he agreed to go to the monitor. He decided that the hands of the Levante defender were inside the area and awarded a penalty. Villalibre deceived Femenías and brought immense happiness to Vitoria, with its 300 fans present in the stands crying at the desolation of the rest of the stadium and the granota players lying on the grass, incredulous at what had happened.
