The streets of Logroño have been filled with fans to celebrate the promotion of the Unión Deportiva Logroñés to the Second Division and that La Rioja will once again have a professional football team twenty years later thanks to its victory in the penalty shootout against Castellón.
The expectation had grown little by little in Logroño, which has resumed the pulse of football months after cheering up with a team that had achieved the best Second B results in all of Spain and had shown its ability to fight until the last moment, which in the end has given him the promotion.
Hundreds of fans, especially young people, have spread throughout the bars and cafes of Logroño, many of them with screens to the outside and their terraces, which has made the streets have a red-white color from the early afternoon.
Until the game has come and first the disappointment has taken hold of the fans, with the 1-0 of Castellón, then an hour of expectation has come and ecstasy has flooded terraces when Andy Rodríguez has tied, already in the final stretch.
Since then the tension has marked every gesture and every look in front of the television screens, especially during the final part of the extension.
Because since the La Rioja team was with one less, many feared that all the effort made before would not work and that advantage in players would give Castellón one more option; that's why the shouts of “time” and “beeps already” marked the last five minutes of the extension.
But to the relief of many, penalties came, in which many fans cheered Miño from the start, confident in his quality. And they did not fail.
Quite a few fans with the radio on their phones – which was ahead of the television – and many more on television followed the launches with constant ovations to the UDL players and shouts against Castellón.
Some shouts that, in the distance, made the people of Castellón nervous and encouraged Miño so that he, with his stops, gave the promotion to his team and “lit” the night in Logroño.
Some bar terraces couldn't help but skip the safety rules
Warnings throughout the week to avoid mass celebrations were only partially successful; because on the terraces of the bars few could avoid the desire to hug and start jumping, although soon afterwards the majority reacted responsibly to separate and “sing at a distance”.
Thus, the outburst of joy was different, with many shouts from the windows, honking of cars throughout the city, some fireworks from balconies and small groups of young people excited because they will be able to watch soccer of a level that they have not known in Logroño. .
But there are always exceptions and despite calls to responsibility, more than half a thousand fans have concentrated at the Murrieta Fountain, the usual place where the triumphs of the old Club Deportivo Logroñés were celebrated.
The authorities decided days ago to empty the fountain, next to which several riot crews have been located.
But even so, some have decided to sneak inside the fountain to celebrate their particular celebration, they have lit flares while singing and cheering for Logroñés, many of them without masks before the watchful eye of the security forces.