Carlos Rosique | València (EFE) de Mestalla celebrates its first century of history this Saturday, which is inextricably linked to the history of Valencia.
The Mestalla stadium, which has hosted more than 2,000 matches in these hundred years, lives in the extension period since a New Mestalla project was presented in 2006, which, however, has not yet been finished and has been stopped since 2009 .
Meanwhile, the field of Avenida de Suecia, one more icon within the urban profile of the city of Valencia, has been erected together with the figure of Mario Alberto Kempes in one of the great symbols of the entity, which in recent years has navigated between sporting inconsistency and a social revolt between the fans and Peter Lim, the club’s top shareholder.
The second stadium in which the national team has played the most
The second stadium in which the Spanish team has played the most times (with 32 games, only surpassed by the 38 of the Bernabéu) will inaugurate its second century of life with a Valencia-Madrid, one day after the centenary, in a match in which Despite not having a big celebration, Valencia will hold an auction of the shirts worn by its players to donate it to Casa Caridad.
It will be the 101st match between the two teams at the Valencian stadium, which held the tribute match for the centenary last December in a decaffeinated Valencia-Nottingham Forest with which it was intended to remember the first clash at Mestalla in European competitions, but in which both teams were decimated by World Cup casualties.
During this century of life, Valencia has celebrated titles, great successes and also disappointments, with a balance of 65% of total victories and 14% of defeats, figures that, however, have worsened in the last decade, the worst of Valencia at home, with only 51.7% wins and 21.4% losses, the worst percentages for the Valencian club.
It has also been the home for almost half a century of the matches of the subsidiary team -CD Mestalla first and Valencia Mestalla later- and has hosted a season of Levante while they were building the Ciutat de València and sporadic matches of Castellón, Villarreal or Madrid against the closure of their respective stadiums.
The 82 World Cup and the 1992 Olympic Games in Mestalla
The matches of the national team in the 82 World Cup or in the 1992 Olympic Games are some of the great milestones of Mestalla, which has also hosted the Champions League semifinals, European Super Cup and Fairs Cup finals or victories that brought leagues closer to the club from Mestalla.
Thus, despite this last decade and given the uncertain future of the new stadium, Mestalla will continue to receive the great stars of world football, such as Messi, Maradona, Pelé, Cruyff, Di Stéfano, Beckenbauer, Garrincha or Cristiano Ronaldo, who have passed through the Valencian field during this last century.