BREAKING La Liga: Stands Collapse During Real Betis-Osasuna Match

((HT: beINSports/DirectoTV))

It's relegation day in La Liga, the Spanish soccer league and as is their wont, all teams that are in the relegation battle start their games simultaneously.

The Real Betis-Osasuna match is a must-win for Osasuna as Real is already relegated.

In the 15th minute, when the home team scored the end zone stands where supporters were standing collapsed in the crush of celebration. The game was suspended as, early on, players for both teams were trying to evacuate the injured out from under the crush of fans trying to gather themselves.

Here's video of the incident...


The game was suspended pending the clearing of the injured and the stadium accident and resumed a half-hour after the accident. There was no immediate word of any serious injuries from Red Cross personnel on site.

Ian Paul Joy's Twitter via beInSports, has a shot of the crush...

Yellow-jacketed security guards were positioned in the end zone to replace the fencing and keep fans off the pitch. With the 35 minutes delay, all La Liga matches decided to take the delay and finish simultaneously.

More when we know more...

1430 UPDATE: Osasuna would go on to beat Betis 2-1, but they will be relegated along with Valladolid after their 1-0 loss to Grenada. Almeria and Getafe stay up with their efforts.

La Liga Match Suspended By Smoke Bomb

((HT: Canal+))

This, sadly, is more commonplace than the HQ would like but the Celta Vigo-Villareal match was suspended by 20 minutes in the second half by one of these...


Celta Vigo win, which was a surprise, and everyone was bent:

"This experience has been crap, pardon the expression," Villareal coach Marcelino said after the match. "There are attitudes that sometimes humans do not understand and this is one of them. The most positive thing is not to discuss this issue."

Villarreal president Fernando Roig condemned the action and apologized:

"Villarreal deplores and condemns what happened. We are convinced that this is a person who is outside of Villarreal and has specifically come to harm the club. We are making all appropriate inquiries and hope to be able to identify as soon as possible to the perpetrator and come down on him with the full weight of the law.

"Such acts do not represent the fans of Villarreal. The club wants to apologize and to acknowledge the work of the security forces in the evacuation."

Spanish Soccer Team Refuses To Play Over Unpaid Wages

((HT: BBC Sport))

Racing Santander players refused to play over, what they say, are months of unpaid wages and forced their Copa del Rey quarter-final against Real Sociedad to be abandoned.

Sociedad won the first leg 3-1 and the winners are supposed to play Barcelona.

Racing players released a statement on Monday saying they would boycott unless president Angel Lavin and his board stepped down... as of right now, they have not...

Here's how it looked at the opening kick...
((HT: HH2489))


Pretty wild scene, but the fans and players support each other at Santander...

Bully for them...

Brooks Peck and the folks over at Dirty Tackle have some background on the Santander situation and a link to an article that Sid Lowe over at ESPN wrote about how the owners have screwed their players...

Lowe's piece is a great read...