Las Palmas' Epic Journey: By Land, Sea and Air to Reach Ceuta Match
UD Las Palmas faced a travel nightmare involving passport issues, Storm Emilia, and multiple cancellations before their Segunda División clash in Ceuta.
UD Las Palmas’ away trip to Ceuta turned into something from an adventure film as players battled cancelled flights, passport problems and a raging storm just to make it to their Segunda División fixture.
Passport Palaver
The drama kicked off with two Las Palmas players, Lukovic and Cedeño, having to take a completely separate route from their teammates due to potential bureaucratic issues with their passports. The club arranged for them to travel via Málaga and then cross to Ceuta by ferry, deliberately avoiding Moroccan territory.
But even this carefully plotted detour hit the buffers when Storm Emilia decided to play havoc with the ferry schedules, leaving the pair stranded.
The Charter Flight Chaos
Meanwhile, for the rest of the squad, what should’ve been a straightforward chartered flight to Tangier followed by a short bus journey to Ceuta turned into a proper nightmare:
- Saturday’s original charter flight was cancelled after hours of uncertainty
- Players had to return home to sleep and regroup
- Sunday morning’s rescheduled 10am flight didn’t get off the ground until midday
This left the team in a right two and eight (state), with precious little time before kick-off at the Alfonso Murube stadium.
Race Against Time
After finally touching down in Tangier, a bus was waiting to whisk the squad to Ceuta, where they’d have just enough time to grab some grub and a bit of shut-eye at the Hotel Parador before the evening match.
As for the stranded duo of Lukovic and Cedeño, club officials remained hopeful they’d eventually cross from Algeciras and join up with their teammates in time for the game.
Talk about taking the long way round! When Las Palmas players finally take to the pitch tonight, they’ll have certainly earned their corn after this travel disaster.