Warning: Article contains graphic scenes that may be distressing
A VETERAN matador was rushed to hospital on Sunday after being gored through the leg by a bull during a performance attended by thousands in the heart of Madrid.
Serafin Marin, 42, went under the knife at Fraternidad Muprespa-Habana Hospital in Chamartin after the incident, which was filmed by many of the 8,000 shocked onlookers packed into Las Ventas bullring in the Spanish capital.
The Catalan – who was the last matador to slain a bull in his native region before the blood sport was banned in 2012 – suffered a 30cm-deep gore after being impaled by the bull’s right horn and unceremoniously thrown to the ground.
Video footage posted on social media shows how the bull turned its attention to Marin’s groin after the bullfighter performed a careful ‘verónica pass’, moving a bright pink cape from side to side.
READ MORE: WATCH: Young bullfighter dies in horror goring during his debut at Lisbon arena as thousands watch
Marin’s colleagues quickly rushed to his aide, distracting the bull before carrying the bruised matador out of the ring.
Speaking the following day after a night in hospital, Marin said: “I didn’t realise I had been gored until I entered the infirmary.
“I was really stunned and dizzy from the blow to the head…and I was bleeding a lot.”
Sunday’s incident occurred during Marin’s first pass of the bullfighting season.
Bullfighting is highly controversial in Spain. Unlike its sister version in Portugal, the animal is chased, tormented and repeatedly stabbed, before finally being killed by the matador – ‘killer’, literally, in Spanish.
It is currently banned in Catalunya and the Canary Islands, although its popularity is waning across Spain.
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