• Football Granada-Athletic suspended due to the death of a fan after a cardiorespiratory arrest
  • Football Scare in Cádiz - Barça: the match was stopped due to a medical emergency in the stands

Unai Simón received the most bitter ovation of his football career at the Nuevo Los Cármenes. The Athletic Club goalkeeper went through the middle of the field in the 17th minute of the match to warn the refereeing team led by referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias that there was an incident with a fan in the stands of the stadium.

After suspending the match, something with which the referee had already threatened a few minutes before, the emergency services as well as the doctors of both teams moved to the Preferential stand to attend to a fan of about 70 years old, a season ticket holder for 16 years of the Nasrid team, who had suffered a cardiac arrest.

Almost an hour later, the worst of the news was confirmed. "Granada informs that the match against Athletic corresponding to matchday 16 of LaLiga EA SPORTS is suspended indefinitely after the death of a season ticket holder in the stands of Los Cármenes," the Nasrid club said in a statement.

The players were already in the locker room, after staying on the pitch for 20 minutes, waiting for the outcome of this terrible incident. Once the news was confirmed, representatives of Granada, Athletic Club and LaLiga met with the referee of the match and it was decided to suspend the match definitively. This was communicated by the club over the loudspeaker to those attending the match, who gave heartfelt applause to the Granada fan who had not been able to overcome the stop suffered in the stands. It was the second ovation of the afternoon with bitter overtones.

Soon, there was a succession of expressions of condolence for the family of the Granada fan. The first, those of Athletic and those of the deceased's club. "From the entity we want to send our most sincere condolences to the family and friends, as well as to the entire Granada family," wrote the Nasrid entity. "We are deeply saddened," Granada CF General Manager Alfredo García said in a statement of condolences from the club's social channels.

But they also came from Athletic Club, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, LaLiga and many of the clubs that make up the competition. "It was a shame that the game had to be suspended but there is nothing more important than life," said Jon Uriarte, the president of Athletic Club.

The general manager of Granada also thanked the "behaviour" of the Bilbao team not only for their performance at the time when the spectator suffered that cardiac incident but also afterwards. Both clubs were quickly able to reach an agreement with LaLiga for the referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias to decree the definitive suspension of the match.

No protocol

According to LaLiga sources consulted by ELMUNDO, there is no procedure for the suspension of a match after an incident of this nature in the stands. The power to do so lies with the referee of the match, so he will be the one to make the final decision after consulting the parties, the stadium security coordinator, the LaLiga match director and analysing the circumstances of the specific case. The minutes of yesterday's match stated that the representatives of both teams "by mutual agreement" told Ortiz Arias that they did not want to continue playing the match, so the referee decided to suspend him definitively.

This is not the first time that the game has been stopped due to an incident of this nature. At last season's Cadiz-Barcelona match, a similar incident temporarily suspended the match so that emergency services could attend to a fan who had suffered another cardiac arrest. "If something unfortunate had happened, we would have suspended the game. We're talking about a human life and that's above football," Xavi said at the time. In the same vein, the general director of Granada said today that "football takes a back seat" when an incident such as the death of this fan occurs.

The match, by the way, was 0-1 up for Athletic Club after a goal by Iñaki Williams in the 6th minute. At the last minute, the new date for the resumption of the little more than 70 minutes remaining in the match was defined. The competition judge of the Royal Spanish Football Federation decided that the match would resume this Monday 11 at 21:00 p.m. Granada, according to EL MUNDO, announced that it would appeal the decision but that it would "abide by what the sporting justice system imposes".

  • Granada CF
  • Athletic de Bilbao