Valencia, Levante games postponed after deadly fire in city،
La Liga postponed Valencia and Levante matches this weekend at the clubs' request after a deadly fire in the Spanish city on Thursday.
At least four people are dead and up to 15 are missing after a massive fire gutted two connected buildings, according to Valencia emergency services.
Valencia were scheduled to play Granada in La Liga on Saturday at 2 p.m. local time, with second division side Levante scheduled to host FC Andorra in Valencia seven hours later.
“LaLiga announces the postponement of the matches between Granada CF and Valencia CF scheduled for tomorrow,” the league said in a statement.
“This is a response to the request for postponement made by Valencia CF and Levante UD, who obtained the agreement of the affected teams of Granada CF and FC Andorra, due to the fire that occurred on Friday in Valencia.”
Earlier on Friday, Valencia CF released a statement expressing their condolences and calling for the match to be postponed.
“The Club deeply regrets what happened, wants to send a lot of strength to all the victims and publicly thank the commendable work of the emergency services,” we read.
“This Friday, players and coaches from the men's first team, women's first team and VCF Academy teams will observe a respectful minute's silence at the start of their training sessions in memory of the victims.
“Also, the Club has processed the request to postpone Saturday's match against Granada CF at the Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium.”
Valencia added that they would fly flags at half-mast at the club's facilities, in line with the three days of mourning declared by the city.
Levante said in a statement that it had requested the match be postponed and added: “We join in the pain of the families and friends of the victims and we express our gratitude to the emergency services for their commendable work in this terrible event.”
LaLiga said A minute's silence will be observed for the victims during all matches in Spain's top two divisions, in memory of the victims of the fire.
Other Spanish clubs sent their condolences to the city after the fire.
“FC Barcelona presents its condolences to the families of the victims of the Valencia fire and provides support to those affected,” Barcelona wrote theformerly Twitter.
In a statement published on its website, Real Madrid said: “Real Madrid CF, its president and its board of directors wish to express their deepest sympathy to the victims of the fire which affected the city of Valencia in recent hours and express their solidarity with all those affected and with all the inhabitants of Valencia.”
Reporting from ESPN's Sam Marsden contributed to this report.
