VALENCIA
Lim, Mario Kempes and Manolo ‘El del Bombo’ in Las Fallas
In little over a month’s time ‘ninots’ of some of the region’s best-known sportsmen and women will go up in smoke.
Valencia maximum shareholder Peter Lim, former Argentina and Valencia player Mario Kempes and MotoGP racers Valentino Rossi, Marc Márquez and Jorge Lorenzo will be just some of the protagonists in this year’s ‘Fallas’ festivities in Valencia, which take place in little over a month’s time.
Today, an exhibition of ‘Ninots’ (papier mâché dolls) which will be set alight on the night of La Cremà on 19 March went on display in the city. As always Valencia CF are well represented with a ‘ninot’ of Peter Lim complete with Fu Manchu moustache, devil’s horns and his daughter Kim, taking a selfie, perched on his shoulder; club president Lay Hoon Chan and the great Mario Kempes, the most important player in the club’s history, with whom the team won the Copa del Rey (1979), the European Cup Winners’ Cup and European Super Cup (1980). Decked out in a red and yellow ‘Senyera’ top, Kempes, ‘El Marador’, has his arms folded and linking a Japanese geisha. Also present is the indomitable, drum-beating Manolo ‘El del Bombo’ who runs a popular bar next to Mestalla stadium.