Cadiz‘s LaLiga match against Barcelona on Saturday was suspended for over 50 minutes following a medical emergency in the stands.
A fan was taken ill and the game paused in the 82nd minute at Cadiz’s Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla with Barca winning 2-0.
ESPN’s Gemma Soler reported that the supporter was a man who suffered a heart attack.
Cadiz goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma and substitute Jose Mari helped get a defibrillator and a stretcher to the supporter behind the home side’s goal. The supporter was later transported to hospital, while the players returned to their locker rooms.
Cadiz president Manuel Vizcaino later said that the fan was in a stable condition.
“The fan has recovered his pulse and they have taken him away in an ambulance,” he said. “He was reviving and falling again, but in the end they managed to stabilise him. The game is going to resume.”
The game resumed at 9.05 p.m. local time. Barca went on to win 4-0, with Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembele adding to earlier goals from Frenkie de Jong and Robert Lewandowski.
“It was not a nice situation for anyone,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said after the game. “Health and people’s lives always come before anything else. Luckily they were able to revive the person and they are healthy and safe. We felt, both teams, that it was right to restart the game. We hope the supporter recovers quickly.”
“Obviously we are all affected by what happened,” added Cadiz coach Sergio Gonzalez. “Hopefully it was just a scare in the end. Football is for people to enjoy themselves. It is a privilege to have the supporters we have, there were an example of humanity during what happened — as were the Barcelona fans.
Information from ESPN’s Sam Marsden contributed to this report.