Valencia requests La Liga match postponement after deadly fire in city

Valencia has asked for Saturday’s La Liga game against Granada to be postponed after a deadly fire in the city.

At least four people were killed after the fire ripped through two apartment blocks in the Spanish city on Thursday, with up to 15 people missing.

Valencia, who are due to host Granada at the Mestalla Stadium on Saturday, awaits a decision from La Liga.

The club says they are ”devastated” by the fire. 

“We offer our help to institutions and emergency services for any need that they may have,” the club added.

Their men’s, women’s and academy squads held a minute’s silence before their training sessions on Friday morning and the club will fly flags at half-mast at their facilities.

Firefighters were called at about 17:30 local time (16:30 GMT) to the incident, with emergency services rescuing several residents from their balconies using cranes.

More than 20 fire crews tackled the blaze, which was made worse by high winds.

Fifteen people, including six firefighters and a young child, were injured in the fire but their lives are not in danger.

Writing on X (formerly known as Twitter) Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Dismayed by the terrible fire in a building in Valencia… I want to convey my solidarity to all the people affected and recognition to all the emergency personnel already deployed at the scene.”

Experts say highly flammable cladding on the building enabled the fire to spread rapidly.

A three-day period of mourning has been declared in the Valencian region.

Valencia sits eighth in the La Liga table, four points behind Real Sociedad in the final European qualification spot.

Source: BBC SPORTS

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