“It’s a clásico that’s a little different to all the rest,” the captain said. Through the metal gate, a few home fans were standing by the bus wanting to catch a glimpse of the players before heading off quietly but most had already gone, standing to applaud at the end and departing soon after. Somewhere above him in one corner of the stand the away supporters were still there though, belting out their version of Bad Moon Rising – a couple of hundred of them bouncing about, palms hammering against the fence. A small line of policemen watched, while the ground staff tended to the turf. It was almost midnight, but the fans weren’t in a hurry: they’d waited a long, long time for this and they really didn’t have a long way to go home.

They may be two different towns but, apart from Betis and Sevilla, no two teams are closer than Leganés and Getafe anywhere in Spain. Nor, though, is there a derby that has come so far. Eight miles south of Madrid, it’s less than three miles from the Coliseum to Butarque, just visible over the other side of the Toledo motorway. They are two of the five towns that border the capital to the south (along with Alcorcón, Móstoles and Fuenlabrada, part of one mayor’s soon-forgotten big idea to join them together in The Great City of the South, which would have been the country’s third biggest with a population of just under a million people and endless industrial estates and trade parks) and Getafe and Leganés have always been rivals off the pitch and on it – just not on pitches like these.

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One former player claimed that Leganés v Getafe was “like the clásico in the Mourinho years”, but while that match was played out in the European Cup semi-final, these two had never met in the first division until Friday night – and, for the immense majority of their history, they had never expected to either. Getafe were founded in 1923 (although they were twice refounded, in 1946 and 1983) and Leganés in 1928 but it is only in the last decade that this was even thinkable. They had played each other in Segunda Regional, Primera Regional, Tercera, Segunda B, and Segunda – and getting that far was an achievement – but Primera? Both of them? At the same time? Forget it.

According to government stats, 62% of people in the Comunidad de Madrid are Real Madrid fans, 22% support Atlético, and 8% Barcelona. That doesn’t allow much room for the rest, and that includes Rayo Vallecano who are more historic. And while the cities were growing and the clubs were too – Getafe’s population stands at 176,659, Leganés’s at 187,173; they both got new, municipal stadiums just before the turn of the century and membership climbed into four figures and beyond – fate intervened. The same day Getafe were promoted to Primera for the first time in 2004, Leganés were relegated to the Second Division B – Spain’s four division, 80-team, third tier.

Getafe remained in the first division for 14 years and even made it into Europe, Bayern Munich arriving at the Coliseum. While they were there, poor Leganés’s ‘derby’ was, for shame, against their B team. Getafe’s achievement was monumental, albeit one that they didn’t always build on as they would have liked. As if they never truly expected to last that long, they didn’t quite construct the fan base they might have done, nor did they succeed in creating a sense that they truly belonged – despite some of the most entertaining PR campaigns around, from Zombie Porn to Getafe Tinder. If there was a lesson in there, it was learnt by Leganés as they finally reached the top flight: while many had sneered, a little unfairly, at Getafe’s empty seats, Butarque regularly sold out. At the same time, imagination, openness and a greater press presence helped give a sense of fun and belonging, achieving something simple, but important: Spain liked them.

By then, of course, Getafe had gone. As Leganés had gone up for the first time ever, their neighbours had gone down, along with Rayo. Fortunately, it was just a year. When Getafe prepared to return in the spring, and Leganés fought for survival, aspiration was expressed in a chant that wasn’t about Madrid or Barcelona but their neighbours. “Next year, Getafe-Leganés!” it ran. And in week three of the 2017-18 season, it came.

Getafe-Leganés was a unique derby to open a weekend of them in which Sporting Gijón faced Oviedo for the first time in 14 years, Toché scoring a late equaliser; Barcelona beat Espanyol 5-0; and Cultural Leonesa and Valladolid finally played each other again, 42 years later, and marked the occasion with a 4-4 draw. This was the game they had waited for: even during pre-season, Leganés’s fans had gone to Fuenlabrada and sung about Getafe. Now, at last, 90 years after they were founded, 4,857 days since they last met, they met again … and here. The “derby of the south”, this time in Primera.

Leganés’s poster for the game declared “thanks to all those that made it possible for us to play this game today”. The pitch it showed was a ploughed field, new stadium gleaming through the goalpost, a depiction of how far they have come that is not so far from the truth: this is game that had literally been played on gravel pitches, going back decades, a rivalry from below. Way, way below. Even in the second division, meetings between them don’t reach double figures. Leganés only got there for the first time in 1993. For 13 years, there had been no derby at all. Yet somehow it was always there. In the 1970s, it had been the focus in factories that served the south, one player insists. In the 1980s it had sometimes been brutal, another says: a truly local affair between players with day jobs for whom the win bonus, twice the usual size, really mattered. Now it was nation-wide.

No other derby has been played at every level of Spanish football. It is historic and was treated as such. Much was made of making it a party, hinting at the potential for tension and maybe even trouble – of which there was none. The managers met for a photoshoot together; the presidents said nice things about each other on the radio. Tickets sold out quick, but then they usually do here. The teams are not what they were. “We’ve had to tell the players all about the derby, [but] they’ll see what it is when they go out there,” Getafe’s manager José Bordalás said before the match. When they arrived, they found a basket of cucumbers waiting in the dressing room, the now-traditional gift for the visitors. In the directors’ box sat the mayors of both towns. 11,454 people were there.

A handful of Getafe fans arrived just over an hour before kick-off, escorted across a patch of rough grass. A modern, out of town stadium stuck in the middle of a knot of motorways with more carpark than character – just one reason why that three mile gap between the grounds ends up being quite a lot more – there are no real bars by Butarque so fans built their own. At one, the Anduva 2016 supporters club stand, drinks and food were laid out across a fold-up plastic picnic table, a huge bin of beers swam in ice cubes. When Getafe’s hardcore passed, they giggled and sang: “Getafe are four cats!” There are hardly any of them, in other words. One of the cats pulled down his trousers to reveal his backside before being hurried up the hill by a policeman.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Leganés’ Argentinian defender Ezequiel Munoz, right, fights for the ball with Getafe’s Senegalese midfielder Amath Ndiaye. Photograph: Juanjo Martin/EPA

Inside, they took up their place in the corner. At the other end, Leganés’s supporters had a microphone and loud speaker. The teams came out together, holding the hands of each other’s under-10s. Their captains, kids, took the honorary kick off. “This is Butarque” said the banner on one side. “My heart beats for you,” said another at the end. Leganés’s fans sang about Getafe, with a population just 10,000 smaller than their own and with 2,300 more season ticket holders, being a “village”. Getafe’s fans laughed and clapped them. Then they sang too. Leganés sang back. They started low, crouching down, almost whispering the words, but built to a climax when they all leapt to their feet and belted out their name. “La, la, la, la, la, oh Leganés!”

Butarque may be small but it is very, very loud. Amidst the noise, a first half that was not up to much gave way to a second that was. “It had a bit of everything,” said Bordalás. With five minutes to go until the break, Mauro Arambarri got a historic goal, a shot from nowhere suddenly tore through the air, screeched into the net 35 yards away. Had he faced the other way, he could have kicked it to the Coliseum. Miguel-Ángel Guerrero equalisedd and Leganés looked for more. That goal came from a rebound from two great saves from Vicente Guaita and he more. Half a dozen saves in total, including a penalty. A dreadful dive gave Leganés a chance from the spot, but El Zhar’s shot was saved. And then, at the other end, with seven minutes left Álvaro Jiménez hit a beautiful shot in from the edge of the area, running to the corner, where Getafe’s fans were going wild.

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They still were at the final whistle. Below and to the side, there were family and friends and the under-10s jumping up and down. The players approached and handed them their shirts, history made. The manager tried to talk about three points but this was different and he knew. “You try to isolate yourself but it impregnates everything,” he admitted. “It was beautiful; we enjoyed it.” In the tunnel, a grey cage leading out of the ground, Leganés’s captain Martin Mantovani said: “It’s a clásico that’s a little different to all the rest.” That, he added, is why defeat hurt more. And yet, he was smiling. There was something to celebrated.

Up in their corner, Getafe’s supporters belted out Bad Moon Rising, singing about how they played in Europe while Leganés had to face their B team. “Tell me: how does it feel?” they said.

Quite good actually. Just being there was quite something and Getafe and Leganés have enough about them that, who knows, they might be there for a while too. “Next week we have another game in first division, let no one forget that,” Leganés manager Asier Garitano said. “This was a derby, in a very special division. It’s a game that lots of people thought they would never, ever see. God willing, they can see it again … and for many more years to come.”

Talking points

• Esteban Granero saw it coming. The former Real Madrid midfielder, who joined Espanyol from Real Sociedad in the summer, admitted this weekend that he first saw Leo Messi at the age of 15 when Gerard Piqué pointed him out at a hotel they were both staying in before a game. “We’re going to beat you this time,” Piqué had told him, after a long run of defeats. The reason was simple: “we have that kid there.” Granero saw this tiny, quiet figure sitting alone by the pool and thought Piqué was taking the piss. Until that afternoon, when Messi took them apart. He was, Granero said, “strong as a rock, the ball always tied to his boot, impossible to take off him … I see him now and think ‘you’re still here’.

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On Saturday he certainly was. As dominant as ever, still unbeatable 15 years on. It finished 5-0 in the Catalan derby. So … crisis, what crisis? Well, still Barcelona’s – after all, the fans chanted for the president to resign even as they were leading Espanyol 5-0 while queues formed outside the Camp Nou as people waited to sign up for a vote of a no-confidence, and Andrés Iniesta confirmed that the president had talked out of turn (again) when he claimed that a contract renewal was close. But things do look better now. Messi, particularly. Mind you, he looked pretty good before. Now, though, he looks happier. He scored a hat-trick and smiled quite a lot during the win, which was in truth bigger than had looked likely for most of the night.

Luis Suárez also scored, neatly assisted by Ousmane Dembélé, who he was quick to share the goal with. Barcelona are top of the table, with nine points from nine having scored nine and conceded none. Better still for them, they are already four points ahead of Real Madrid.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lionel Messi celebrates scoring his second goal against Espanyol. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

• There were chances and the best player on the pitch was probably Raúl, the Levante goalkeeper who made a handful of saves – a couple of them superb, especially against Marcelo right at the end – as Real Madrid were held 1-1. Toni Kroos hit the post in the final minutes. And Madrid were without Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Keylor Navas, while Isco sat on the bench until the second half. So perhaps the 1-1 draw with Levante – who were very impressive and, unlike many promoted teams, have stuck with the players and manager who brought them up – can be explained as a one-off, a bit of an accident. And yet this was not quite like the 2-2 with Valencia – it was worse. And Zinedine Zidane not only insisted that he will keep rotating and won’t lose his head, but also that he would not hide behind bad luck. “I can’t be happy with the way we played,” he said.

• Levante could be. Very, very happy. “This is a great point,” their president Quico Catalan said. “Because we’re back in the first division, because it’s the first away game, because of the fans, because it’s Madrid, and because we have been to the Bernabéu twelve times and only once got points before.”

• Before their game at San Mamés, the Girona captain Alex Granell laid flowers at the bust of Pichichi. It was, after all, their first ever game here, as Primera debutants. It was also, as it turned out, their first defeat of the season, Inaki Williams tearing into them and Artiz Aduriz and Iker Muniain getting the goals.

• Sevilla’s third goal in their 3-0 win over Eibar. Woof.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sevilla 3-0 Eibar: highlights

• The last time Real Sociedad started the season with three wins was 1981 and they won the league. And, no, that’s not going to happen this season – but it is no fluke. 2-0 up in four minutes thanks to two lovely goals, Deportivo pulled one back with an even lovelier strike from Adrián, a beautifully guided, curling, soft volley into the far corner. Then Lucas Pérez returned, handed a huge ovation, and Florin Andone made it 2-2. (And that could be a pretty exciting pair). But la Real scored two more to win 4-2 – and they look very, very good indeed. Next up: Madrid.

• Fernando Roig, the Villarreal president isn’t happy. He also nailed it, not just at the Madrigal but at so many grounds. “Congratulations to those who whistled,” he said bitterly after his side beat Betis 3-1. “Well done to the wise men of Vila-real. It’s not easy to build something with their negativity. This is a great win but I’m very unhappy. I don’t understand people’s lack of patience; some people are never satisfied. How can you whistle a coach before the game has even started? They whistle … and then they cheer at 3-1.”

• Goal. Celta. Maxi. Again.

• There were no goals but there was generous applause at the end of Valencia’s 0-0 draw with Atlético at Mestalla. There’s something there this year, that’s for sure: effort, for a start, a sense of identity, community at last. Atlético were the better side and Marcelino admitted that he would have liked his side to attack more, but there was honour in this. There was also not much surprise: the last seven meetings between Marcelino and Simeone have finished 1-1, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0.

Results: Leganés 1–2 Getafe, Real Madrid 1–1 Levante, Valencia 0–0 Atlético, Sevilla 3–0 Eibar, Barcelona 5–0 Espanyol, Deportivo 2–4 Real Sociedad, Athletic 2–2 Girona, Celta 1–0 Alavés, Villarreal 3–1 Betis. Tonight: Málaga-Betis.