LaLiga SmartBank: Leganes, Rayo Vallecano, Almeria, Girona tussle for final promotion spot-Sports News , Firstpost

Rayo Vallecano will be playing their first promotion playoff since the format was introduced after 2010-11 season. AFP

Title race in the Spanish first division went right down to the wire. To the very last minute in fact before Atletico Madrid edged Real Madrid by just two points. At the bottom end of the table, Huesca, Real Valladolid and Eibar dropped into the second division. Taking their place, by virtue of finishing top and second in LaLiga SmartBank (the second division) are Espanyol and Real Mallorca. One place is still up for grabs with the playoff format. Leganes face Rayo Vallecano in one semi-final and Almeria will be up against Girona in the other semi-final. Both semi-finals and final will be played over two legs in home and away format.

All four teams vying to go up to the ‘big league’ have played in the first division in the last 10 years. Leganes were relegated after 2019-20 season, Rayo after 2018-19, Girona after 2018-19, and Almeria have not gone up in six years. If Leganes clinch promotion, it will be the first time in history that the three teams that were relegated will go up immediately.

The promotion system came into effect from 2010-11 and since then, Girona have been in the playoffs thrice only to not go up. They go into the playoffs on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run that saw them finish fifth. “We all know playoffs are very difficult and it doesn’t matter who we face. Almeria have had a very good season and it is a highly competitive second division. We believe in ourselves, our team, we drew on the last day (at Cartagena) and we just want to take confidence. Anything can happen in these playoff matches. I mean we’re “experts” at getting to the playoffs but not in getting promoted. We have to be positive and just keep doing what we’ve been doing recently,” said Girona’s Aday Benítez in a virtual call organised by LaLiga.

Leganes, who finished third, hope to bank on their big-game experience to prepare for the playoffs. “It may be similar (the playoffs) to the way we approach facing a big club. You don’t always play a Barcelona or a Real Madrid, so it comes with its own challenges. And playoffs are a bit like that as well. So you’ve got to play till death,” said the club’s defender Javi Hernández.

When probed to explain the difference between the first two divisions in terms of physicality, level, and economics, Benitez said, “There is a difference in the two levels. the quality in the first division is higher. And in the second it is harder to earn points, the season is longer and the last place team can beat the top team. In the first division, it is probably harder for that to happen. The players just try to be in top form and compete particularly in the playoffs. It is the decisive time in the season.”

The first legs of the playoff will be played on 2 and 3 June with the return legs on 5 and 6 June. The final will be played on 13 and 20 June. Historically, there is little to choose between the four teams with third-placed team going on to get promoted thrice, twice for the fourth and fifth place team, and again thrice for the sixth-place team.