The great midfielder Rivera, the leader of Levante UD in the mythical Jerez promotion.

The year 2004 marked the forty-first anniversary of Levante UD’s last promotion to the First Division and thirty-nine years without playing in the top flight. Those two seasons in the sixties in which the Granotes had lived alongside Real Madrid, Barça and the rest of the Spanish footballing paradise were so diluted in time that returning to the top flight seemed impossible rather than a chimera. Moreover, those two years had been the only two in the history of the Valencian football club in the elite of Spanish football. So the promotion to the First Division that took place at the Estadio Municipal de Chapín in Jerez on Saturday 5 June 2004 meant absolute ecstasy for the Levantines.

Alberto Rivera Pizarro, a native of Puertollano (Ciudad Real), was a talented footballer who, at a very young age, joined the squad of the all-powerful Real Madrid. Surprisingly, at the age of 16, he joined the first team squad. And at the age of 17 years, three months and 20 days, he set a record that still stands today at the Chamartín club: on 10 June 1995, under the orders of Jorge Valdano, he made his debut in the First Division in a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo, scoring the second goal of the match. Never in the history of Real Madrid has a player made his debut and scored so young in the First Division. However, that promising start was not followed up and Rivera returned to the youth ranks until the 2000/01 season when he returned to the elite, playing in the Champions League in a match in which Spartak Moscow beat Real Madrid 1-0. But Rivera did not count in this case for coach Del Bosque and in the following season he was loaned to Olympique Marseille where he did not have an outstanding performance. Finally, in 2002/03 he got the chance to play for Levante UD de València.

When he arrived at Orriols, he found an ambitious club with one goal in mind: to return to the First Division. To achieve this, a great team was put together, coached by Carlos García Cantarero, and which was to revolve around the signing of a media star: the great footballer Pedja Mijatovic. Rivera, the undisputed starter in the midfield, became the Montenegrin’s team-mate. The team was fighting all season for the first three places for promotion, but the 30th matchday was the last one in which the club was in third position. From then until the end of the tournament, Levante was the owner of a frustrating fourth place. And although on matchday 37 there was a change of coach and José Gómez was brought in, it was business as usual. Certainly, Mijatovic’s performance was not what was expected and his physical problems only allowed him to play half of the matches that season, which also had an influence on the fact that the desired promotion could not be achieved.

So 2003/04 was to be the season of that longed-for return to the First Division. To do so, the club chose a coach who, in the end, would become a Levante legend: the immense Manolo Preciado. He was joined by two strikers: David Aganzo and the Argentinian Gustavo Reggi.

But, without a doubt, the axis of that team revolved around the baton of Alberto Rivera, the great playmaker of that eleven, who became the perfect extension of the coach on the pitch and who, in addition, achieved his best goalscoring record of his career as a footballer. With 11 goals, he was the second highest scorer after Reggi (who scored 12) and ahead of Aganzo (who scored 9). In addition, in the Copa del Rey, the Granotes were on the verge of a big surprise. In the round of 16, the team came up against Barça and almost eliminated them. In the first leg at the Ciutat d’Orriols they won 1-0 (with a goal from Rivera), but in the second leg at the Camp Nou they won 3-1 after a more than controversial refereeing performance.

Throughout the league tournament, the team led the competition and on match day 40 (there were still two more to go) they had their first chance to win promotion. To do so, they had to beat the local team in Jerez. And after an extraordinary match, not without suffering, as the locals took the lead well into the second half, Levante managed to turn the score around and complete the feat. After Reggi’s first goal, it was Rivera, after scoring a penalty in the 71st minute, who brought the whole Levante crowd to paroxysm.

Surprisingly, with Levante UD in the First Division, the coach who had achieved promotion was not given continuity and Preciado was replaced by the German Bern Schuster. The team was reinforced with top players such as Irish defender Harte, Bulgarian striker Manchev and Argentinian goalkeeper Cavallero. And the team had a truly spectacular first quarter of the season, reaching third place behind Barça and Real Madrid on matchday 10.

However, the second half of the season was disastrous in sporting terms for the team, whose performance dropped dramatically. On matchday 35, José Luis Oltra became the new coach to try to reverse the situation, but the reaction was insufficient. And in the last match of the tournament, after losing 4-1 in Villarreal, the Granotes returned to the silver category.

And so ended Alberto Rivera’s third and final season as a Granota player. An extraordinary midfielder, with a fabulous technical quality who led an unforgettable promotion to the First Division for Levante fans.