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Elch 1-1 Granada. Granada CF are promoted. Goal scored by Ighalo in a night of massive celebration.

Granada are promoted to the 1st division of Spanish Football.

In true play off fashion there was certainly no shortage of tension nor high drama.

Granada controlled the first leg of this play off final from start to finish.

Spectators were treated to a feast of incidents during the game.

We saw an Elche substitute being red carded before he managed to step on the pitch.

We saw Granada being denied by a layer of paint on the post and we saw Granada being denied a winner by the crossbar.

We also saw the referee disallow what looked like a perfectly good Granada goal in the 80th minute, apparently for handball, with television replays seeming to suggest otherwise.

But the major drama was saved for the 93rd minute, as the final whistle was about to blow, Granada were awarded a penalty to the disbelief of the Elche players. After his double spot kick miss last weekend, Dani Benitez was relieved of duty, instead up stepped Abel. Would he Abel enough to score one this time?

Not so, Abel shot low and to the left, with the keeper equal to the task and keeping it out. But the Ref blew his whistle, not for full time but he pointed again to the spot. The Elche keeper had come off his line too early and the penalty was to be retaken.

A second bite at the cherry for Abel. He tries to place it this time into the other corner, once again the keeper is equal to him and parries the ball to safety.

Full time whistle blows sparking scenes of jubilation amongst the Elche fans.

The return leg in Elche takes place this Saturday evening at 21:00 (una hora menos en las Canarias)

After a 0-0 draw in the first leg there is still everything to play for. Elche may believe that they have the advantage, but Saturday now becomes something of a one off cup final. Whichever team wins the game will get promoted. Elche have the homefield advantage, while Granada will have the advantage of away goals if it were to finish in a score draw.

¡Ánimo Graná!

13/06/11

Final result Granada 1-0 Celta. Result over the two legs, 1-1. Granada win 5-4 after sudden death penalty shoot out.

Incredible scenes were witnessed last Saturday night as Granada CF booked their place in the final of the liga Adelante Play-offs. They will play Elche this week over 2 legs (Wednesday and Saturday) to see who will be promoted to la Primera.

Granada came into the return leg trailing Vigo by a goal. They knew that whatever they did, they had to score at least one goal and try to keep Vigo off the scoreboard. They attacked from the start and after just 23 minutes they got the all important first goal to level the overall result.

Granada controlled the game and had the large majority of the chances and mid way through the second half it looked as if everything was going right for them as Higalo was brought down in the box and a penalty was awarded. A 2-0 victory would have sealed the tie, however not this time as local favourite Dani Benitez stepped up to take the penalty, sending the keeper the wrong way only to be denied by the post and the ball staying out.

The match finished 1-0 which meant the two team would go straight into extra time. The extra period was only some 5 minutes old, when Granada were awarded a second penalty, for a blatent Vigo handball in the area. Once again Dani Benitez was the man to step up to take the penalty. He had missed once already, surely this time he would hold his nerve and slot it home. But he didnt, this time the keeper went the right way and managed to block the spot kick and keep Vigo in the game. All of a sudden it was looking like it might not be Granada's day (or year) after all.

After the 30 minutes of extra time and as the players were becoming increasingly tired, there was still nothing to seperate the two teams. Into a penalty shoot out it went.

Granada won the toss and were first up to take a penalty. However they got off to the worst possible start with Carlos Calvo stepping up, only to sky his penalty miles over the crossbar (a lá Roberto Baggio USA '94) Celta went on to succesfully convert there next 4 penalties, with Granada doing likewise (including Dani Benitez finally scoring one). The pressure reached boiling point as everything depended on the 5th and final penalty to be taking by Celta Vigo. Unbelievable, he bottled it and put it over the bar. Granada back in the game!

Into sudden death the penalties went and who should step up, only the Granada goalkeeper Roberto (still wearing the black eye from he received in the first leg). With no delays he managed to hit a very mediocre penalty that somehow creapt under the body of his opposite number. Advantage Graná! The pressure on Vigo and they cracked, a blistering save by goalkeeping hero Roberto and the red and white dream of promotion lives on, jubilation and celebration kicked off around Granada.

Granada CF will now play elche in the final. Elche themselves managed to perform somthing of a minor miracle recovery, as they had also lost the first leg 0-1 to Vallodolid. Needing to win at home on sunday evening, things went from bad to worse as Vallodilid opened the scoring after 20 minutes. Elche now needed three goals to stay alive. But the five minutes before half time and 10 minutes after the break saw elche knock in the 3 goals they required and sent the Valencianos into the play off showdown with Granada this week.

The play-off final is once again over two legs, and as Elche are the higher seed they will have home advantage for the second leg.

Wednesday 21:00 first leg at the Estadio de los Carmenes, Granada.

Tickets for the game are on sale from Tuesday 10am - 10pm Only available at the main ticket office at the stadium. Tickets start from €25

2nd leg at Elche, Saturday 21:00

10/06/11

In a somewhat disappointing showing by Granada last night they lost the first leg of the play-off 0-1 to a strong Celta Vigo. It was evident that Granada went to Galicia in a very defensive frame of mind and were clearly looking for the draw.

All went to plan for the first 60 minutes or so, but eventually Celta broke the deadlock with a somewhat fortuitous winning goal.

But there is still all to play for come saturday evening at 21:00 in the Estadio de los Carmenes, Granada.

The result means that Granada must score goals and try their best to keep Celta off the scoreboard.

A reversal of the 0-1 would lead the teams to extra time and penalaties, otherwise Granada must win by 2 clear goals to progress to the final and continue the dream of making it to La Liga.

So after 42 rounds of league matches the rojiblancos of Granada have finished in 5th position in the league. (Effectivly 4th when you exclude Barcelona B) that means that they are seeded 2nd for the end of season play-offs to determine which team will be joing Betis and Rayo in promotion to La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

Granada will now face Celta Vigo in the first round of the play-offs over a home and away tie. The first game will be played this Wednesday evening at 21:00 away in Vigo. With the all important return leg to be played at 21:00 this coming Saturday in Granada's home stadium, Los Carmenes.

How to buy tickets to the Play-offs? Tickets for Saturday's game have gone on sale this morning for the priority purchase of the season ticket holders only.

For the general public tickets will be going on sale from Wednesday morning at 11:00 and are on sale everyday until the game. Tickets can only be bought at the box office in the stadium. Tickets start at €25 for sectors C and D, €35 for sector B and go up to €40 for Sector A.

Who will win? Well if recent form is anything to go by, Granada should be starting favourites. As Celta have had a calamtious collapse for the second half of this season. Mid way through the year they looked certain to top the table, however they have only managed 2 wins in their last 16 games.

But if we look back to results during the season there was absolutly nothing to split the two teams as both games home and away finished in 1-1 draws; all the way back in October in Vigo and just a couple of months ago here in Granada. (Could we be looking at a penalty shoot-out in this knock out round?)

Some interesting recent history, There has historically been a gulf between the 2 sides. While Granadinos are making a fiesta just by being up at the business end of la Segunda. Celta fans will certainly be thinking that they are way below where they should be, as there natural place should be in the upper half of La Primera division.

Take a look back to the 2005 season, Celta Vigo were on a high and finished 3rd in the top division and secured a spot in the Champions League. At the same time Granada were in La Tercera (4th division) languishing and not looking like they were moving anywhere. How things can change and Granada look forward to taking on Celta and beating them in a two leg play-off that all happens in this coming week.

Elche will take on Vallodolid in the other semi final. With the winners to play Granada or Celta in a two leg final the following week.

The officials from the Liga Adelante, that would be the Spanish 2nd division to you and me, have got in touch with Granada Insider to explain just quite how the Play off system is going to work.

The top 2 teams in the league (Betis and Rayo) are automatically promoted. The next 4 teams go into the play-offs. (Barcelona B are excluded as they are prohibited from being promoted).

After the final postions are decided on June 5th there will be 2 rounds of play-offs, efectivly semi-finals and a final. These fixtures work on a home and away basis.

In the semi finals the 3rd place team will play the 6th and 4th v 5th. With the higher placed team awarded home advantage for the second leg. The winners of these 2 fixtures will then play in a final, again on a home and away basis and again the higher placed team gets home advantage for the second leg.

The "semi-finals" take place on Wed 8th and Sun 12th of June. With the final taking place on Wed 15th and Sun 19th of June.

As the league stands at the moment with just one round of matches left, Granada CFwil be the top placed seed in the play-offs and look set to take on Vallodolid. With Elche and Celta Vigo being the other 2 teams involved.

So lets hope come 9pm on Sunday 19th of June we will be dancing in the Fuente de Batallas with the rest of the Rojiblancos as Granada secure their place to join the big boys of Spanish football's premier division. ¡Anímo Graná!