The two clubs, almost touching distance apart, had played a derby in every division except the top flight – but met on Friday for something special
“It’s a clásico that’s a little different to all the rest,” the captain said. Through the metal gate, a few home fans were standing by the bus wanting to catch a glimpse of the players before heading off quietly but most had already gone, standing to applaud at the end and departing soon after. Somewhere above him in one corner of the stand the away supporters were still there though, belting out their version of Bad Moon Rising – a couple of hundred of them bouncing about, palms hammering against the fence. A small line of policemen watched, while the ground staff tended to the turf. It was almost midnight, but the fans weren’t in a hurry: they’d waited a long, long time for this and they really didn’t have a long way to go home.
They may be two different towns but, apart from Betis and Sevilla, no two teams are closer than Leganés and Getafe anywhere in Spain. Nor, though, is there a derby that has come so far. Eight miles south of Madrid, it’s less than three miles from the Coliseum to Butarque, just visible over the other side of the Toledo motorway. They are two of the five towns that border the capital to the south (along with Alcorcón, Móstoles and Fuenlabrada, part of one mayor’s soon-forgotten big idea to join them together in The Great City of the South, which would have been the country’s third biggest with a population of just under a million people and endless industrial estates and trade parks) and Getafe and Leganés have always been rivals off the pitch and on it – just not on pitches like these.
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