The Copa del Rey derby match between Real Betis and Sevilla finished under bizarre circumstances on Sunday – a day after it had started and with no fans in the stands.
The game began on Saturday at Betis’ Estadio Benito Villamarín, but the match was abandoned with the score level at 1-1 after Sevilla midfielder Joan Jordán was hit on the head by a pole thrown by a spectator.
Spanish media reported that police had been inspecting the area of the stands where they believed the projectile had come from.
Jordán was hospitalized and diagnosed with a “traumatic brain injury,” Sevilla said, and was subsequently unable to play in the match once it was restarted on Sunday due to “medical advice.”
Sevilla expressed its “absolute disagreement” with the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) decision to restart the match in Jordán’s absence.
Despite Sevilla’s protests, the match did go ahead and Betis qualified for the Copa del Rey quarterfinals thank to Sergio Canales’ 73rd-minute winner.
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Sevilla head coach Julen Lopetegui, who confirmed Jordán’s head injury caused high blood pressure and dizziness, condemned the reaction of Betis’ players following the incident.
Betis’ Mexican midfielder Andrés Guardado could be seen apparently mocking the incident as the players walked off the pitch on Sunday, throwing a bottle onto his head and falling to the ground as several teammates laughed around him.
However, in an Instagram post, Guardado denied that was his intention: “At no moment am I mocking the incident Jordán suffered … which is something that should never happen on a football pitch and is unfortunate and embarrassing! … Believe me, if I knew that Jordán was actually bad, I would never do that !”
But Guardado then appeared to question the severity of the incident in the same post, saying, “…what I don’t agree with is everything that happened afterwards on the pitch which I lived first hand, where we all know each other in the world of football and I know that sooner or later it will come out what actually happened!”
Several Betis players also insinuated that Jordán had overreacted to try and get the match suspended.
Lopetegui said it was “regrettable that fellow professionals” were “capable of putting the focus [of the incident] on other things.”
“Either condemn it or don’t,” Lopetegui told reporters after the match. “It pisses me off, sorry, that Joan Jordán isn’t on the pitch when he didn’t put his head into the incident nor did he suspend the match.
“He was dizzy, he had a traumatic brain injury. The injured player is the victim. How did they play [the match] today when there were other options?”
The Sevilla Derby, or El Gran Derbi, is widely considered one of the most bitter rivalries in football. One previous incident in 2007 saw then Sevilla coach Juande Ramos knocked out by a bottle thrown from the stands.
