After ruling out all possible alternatives, Valencia is finally being sold. No re-floating, no re-financing, or anything like it. Bankia's official announcement is as clear as it is saddening: "We have received no viable plan to make re-financing a possibility. Investment is needed to achieve a global solution. The most viable alternative is to look for investors that guarantee a good sports, economic and social project."

Valencia president, Amadeo Salvo, had said just minutes before that he hoped that the bank would give him more time. He was more defiant than his usual tone: "If anybody has fought with Bankia it has been us. We have told them that they haven't the right to sell Valencia. They are not the owners. Although they choke us and strangle us, we will say that Bankia cannot sell Valencia. I was the first to say as such to Goirigolzarri (Bankia's president) and that unless a judge decides or orders the sale, it won't be sold. Bankia will have to rectify its decision."

If Salvo was tough in his response to the bank's decision, Aurelio Martínez went even further. After defending the argument for re-financing, the president of the Valencia FC Foundation came tantamount to resigning: "Selling is not the best option, if that's the way it is, we'll go. In this life it's good to resign. They said they would give us an extension. I feel really sorry that they haven't given us the time to carry on with our dream."