Remembering when Scotland's visit to Spain ended in an abandoned match
The score was level at 1-1 when there was a power cut on 59 minutes
Scotland welcome Spain to Glasgow this evening for a battle which will revive some incredible memories of previous clashes between the two countries. Whether it’s David Silva’s 2011 hat-trick, or the late winner from Fernando Llorente to avoid a draw in one of Spain’s first games as world champions, Mo Johnston’s brace in a 3-1 win in 1984 or even the historic 6-2 win for the Scots in Madrid in 1963.
But one of the most memorable meetings was in September 2004. The travelling Scottish contingent may well have expected an early September trip to Valencia to have been a pleasant trip, but a torrential rain storm which hit in the second half dampened the occasion.
Berti Vogts was in charge of the visitors with Barry Ferguson captaining the team, facing a Spain team which included exciting young talents like Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and José Antonio Reyes and saw Iker Casillas captain his country for the first time.
Valencia coach Rubén Baraja was among those to start, but his evening went disastrously in his home city but not at Mestalla, at Levante’s Estadi Ciutat de València. It was a deflection off Baraja’s head at a set piece which sent the 2,500 travelling Scottish fans wild as Scotland took the lead.
15,000 were in attendance in total, but many vanished as the storm clouds gathered over the sporting arena which had no roof over three sides of the stadium.
Spain were battling to get back into the game, and made changes at half-time to get back into the friendly, with more experienced players like Raúl and Vicente being called upon. It was the former who would change the game.
On 56 minutes, Reyes broke into the box as the ball was cut back and was thrown to the ground as he was sandwiched by Andy Webster and Jackie McNamara, with Raúl stepping up to smash the resulting penalty into the net.
But by this point, the game was about to change. The strong winds and pouring rain had already limited the spectacle, making it a much less attractive proposition and impacting the match, but it was about to get worse.
On 59 minutes, the lights went out. Lightning had struck near the stadium and there was a power cut across the area, leaving not only the floodlights but the whole stadium and neighbouring blocks of flats without power.
Generators were used to provide some lighting, but nowhere near enough to guarantee supporter safety or allow the game to continue.
French referee Stephane Bre opted to try to see out the storm in the hope that the game could return and carry on, even if many fans had already deserted the uncovered stands in search of shelter elsewhere.
After 15 minutes, Bre gave in and called it a night. A frustrated and drenched group of players trudged off the pitch and into the dressing room, without any lights, and the game was not rearranged, with the score going down in the history books as a 1-1 draw.
It was only the second time that Scotland had ever seen a game abandoned, the first since a friendly against Austria in May 1963, and Valencia unexpectedly provided a second with the bad weather beating both teams.
It wasn’t until 2011 when Scotland would next return to Spain, this time just down the east coast with a visit to Alicante and the Estadio José Rico Pérez. 12 years on from that visit, Scotland will be hoping to avoid a repeat of either of those last two visits when they come to the Iberian Peninsula for their EURO 2024 qualifier in October.