The visitors to Fir Park tonight will not be discomfited by the tight park or the attendance that will be in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands. In the culture of Spain where the artist is the king, Levante are the artisans, the footsoldiers who will march on Lanarkshire with some purpose but without any pretension.
Levante, the second team in Valencia, were famously on top of the La Liga for a brief period last season in the aftermath of a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid. They attracted the highest of praise. "They do the 'dirty' part of the game well: the time wasting, the provocation and the simulation," said Jose Mourinho, the coach of Real Madrid. He knows whereof he speaks.
His recognition of Levante's strategy was not expanded to include the reality that his opponents were operating on a budget that would not keep Ronaldo in hair gel. Levante's subsequent qualification for Europe for the first time is an extraordinary achievement. The only trophy the club has won is the Copa de la Republica in 1937 during the civil war. They have only ever spent six seasons in the top flight and their recent history includes financial issues that forced a players' strike. Yet their time has come and Levante will meet their first challenge in Europe with hard work rather than flourish.
Juan Ignacio Martinez, their 48-year-old manager, was a player of humble beginnings and endings. Like all foreign coaches, he sports an exotic fact. He was, apparently, a bodyguard for a flamenco dancer at one point in the past. In his day job, he first made his way in youth and women's football and his ethos at Levante, after joining them from Cartagena last year, was to preach the simple virtues. He sets out the team in a solid shape that he insists is 4-2-3-1, but appears much more defensive, and he values experience. His captain is Sergio Ballesteros who is 36 but looks older. However, the central defender is only one of the thirty-somethings that populate the Levante team sheet.
Martinez's caution was rewarded last season with a series of unlikely victories that allowed Levante, briefly, to sit on top of La Liga, but the expected plummet to the lower reaches of the division never occurred. Instead, Martinez guided his side into the Europa League and Motherwell stand between him and the group stages of a tournament won by Atletico Madrid last season.
Levante, who drew with Atletico on Sunday, are making all the right noises about treating the tournament with the seriousness that marked their league campaign last season. "This is the hour of truth," said Juanlu, the 32-year-old midfielder.
Martinez will approach Fir Park with care. Stuart McCall, the Motherwell manager, fully expects a night when his side will be allowed possession in their defensive third and challenged to play their way through the Levante midfield and back four.
The problem for Motherwell is both simple to divine but difficult to resolve. They must not succumb to the temptation to hit the ball long and early but believe they can create chances by playing at a hectic Scottish pace and by upsetting the venerable Levante defence with a mixture of Henrik Ojamaa's directness and Michael Higdon's physicality.
Motherwell were beaten 5-0 by Panathinaikos over two legs of a Champions League qualifier and McCall is insistent that his side should not be indulging in any notions of damage limitation. "We made chances against Panathinaikos and Levante will be happy to leave here without conceding a goal," said McCall. "I can see our young boys at the back getting a lot of ball with the crowd being anxious about getting it forward early. We opened Panathinaikos up through the middle but we will have to get the ball wide, get crosses in and make them defend."
He added: "Most European sides tend to play with one striker but we will be playing two tomorrow night. We want to make the defenders defend. We will be having a go in that regard. That will probably be something they do not come up against too often. They are good defenders but we will put people up against them and have a go."
Jamie Murphy and Chris Humphrey will supply the width with James McFadden increasingly looking an unlikely Motherwell signing. McCall battle cry is unambiguous. "I do not just want possession. I want crosses, I want balls in the box, I want knockdowns. Basically I want to play a high tempo. We will not be playing a high tempo in 90 degree heat in Spain on a big pitch in the second leg, but we can certainly do it here. That is one of our strengths, tempo."
He emphasised: "I do not want to say after the game: 'yeah, we had 6000 passes but we put too few crosses in the box, we had all the ball but we had three shots from 40 yards'. We have to pose a threat."
They may have to do more than that to muzzle a team regarded as underdogs in La Liga but nowhere else.
