A car accident leaves sixteen injured at the gates of Espanyol stadium.

Cornellà de LlobregatA major scare occurred outside the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà minutes before the derby between Barça and Espanyol. According to Mossos d'Esquadra sources, the situation is being treated as an accident. Sixteen people were injured, eight with minor injuries and five with less serious injuries, and they were taken to hospitals by the Emergency Medical System, which activated ten units. Police and ambulances were deployed around the stadium during the match to treat those affected.

The incident occurred at 9 p.m., with half an hour to go before kickoff. The car was traveling through an area filled with blue and white fans and became trapped between the crowd and two garbage containers that the fans had previously placed in the middle of the road. According to sources consulted by ARA, the driver is believed to be a local resident and drove out of the parking lot, very close to the stadium. In other words, she did not miss any police checkpoints. At this point, tensions escalated, with many people heckling the driver, throwing objects at the car, breaking some windows. Amid the tension and with the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) attempting to control the situation, the driver lost control and hit several people in front of her. The driver's erratic trajectory led her to a pedestrian zone, where she ended up crashing into some barriers.

"She found herself surrounded by fans and, for some unclear reason, at one point tried to accelerate," said Commissioner Eduard Sallent, head of the northern metropolitan region of the Mossos d'Esquadra, in a subsequent press conference. Sallent added that the driver "felt besieged" and described it as a "fortuitous and accidental" incident. The commissioner clarified that the road she was traveling on was not blocked at that point (she had left the same neighborhood) and that she was not traveling at an excessive speed. "We must determine why she made this maneuver," said Sallent. In fact, according to sources consulted by ARA, the Mossos d'Esquadra received an initial warning of a trapped car, which is why public order officers were deployed at the time of the accident and were trying to clear the way.

The president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, who was on the pitch to follow the match, confirmed during halftime that it was an accident and that no one was seriously injured. One of the people hit was the son of the mayor of Badalona, ​​Xavier Garcia Albiol. City Hall sources explained that he is fine, but that the vehicle ran over his foot. A Mossos d'Esquadra officer and the driver of the vehicle were also injured.

The match is not suspended

The match hadn't even reached the 10th minute when Joan Garcia, Espanyol's goalkeeper, stopped the game because he saw the supporters behind his goal demanding his attention. Dozens of Espanyol supporters, members of the Curva RCDE (RCDE Curve), were calling for the match to be stopped due to the mass attack that had occurred near the RCDE Stadium. The stadium's PA system had just announced that the attack was under control "with no serious injuries." Referee César Soto Grado then went to the dugout area to request more information from the relevant authorities. After speaking briefly with a Mossos d'Esquadra official, he indicated that the match should continue. Sallent explained that suspension of the match had been considered, but given that the injuries were minor, that "there was no impact on security," and that it was not a "case of terrorism," it was decided that the match could continue.

But the decision didn't go down well with the members of the RCDE Curve, many of whom left the stadium in protest. At the end of the match, Espanyol fans were equally outraged: they were both at having lost the match and at the scene of the accident. People who witnessed it firsthand criticized the driver for speeding "despite having a mass of people in front of her" and said there were people who "could have died."