Matador cheats death at festival after bull's horn blinds him in one eye and paralyses half his face

By LEE MORAN

Caught: The bull's horn pierced Juan Jose Padilla's jaw and emerged through his left eye socket during the grizzly incident at the northeastern city of Zaragoza's Fiestas Del Pilar

A Spanish matador has been blinded in his left eye and paralysed down that side of his face after he was horrifically gored during a bullfight.

The bull's horn pierced Juan Jose Padilla's jaw and emerged through his left eye socket during the grizzly incident at the northeastern city of Zaragoza's Fiestas Del Pilar event yesterday.

With blood gushing from his head, he was helped out of the ring screaming 'I can't see, I can't see'.


Before: Padilla moves to place the banderillas into the bull

He then underwent a life-saving five-hour operation to repair severe damage to his eye, bone, muscle and skin, said Spain's taurine press.

The bull, called Marques and from the Ana Romero ranch, quickly took its revenge after Padilla slipped and fell in the sand after the placing of the banderillas (barbed sticks).


During: But he slips as he turns around from the ball and falls to the floor

Doctors had initially thought the goring, of which footage exists on Youtube and was shown on Spanish TV channel Canal+ Toros, would be fatal.

But the bullring's doctor Antonio Val-Carreres later told El Pais newspaper that Padilla was in serious condition and was staying at Zaragoza's Miguel Servet hospital.


During: The bull then takes its revenge on Padilla by goring him in his face

Although matadors are regularly hurt, the last two fatalities of senior matadors were those of Francisco Rivera Paquirri in 1984 and Jose Cubero Sanchez 'El Yiyo' in 1985.

Those events triggered national mourning and led to a resurgence of interest in the bullfight. The six bulls fought at each corrida inevitably are killed.

Marques was later put to the sword by the senior matador on the bill, Miguel Abellan, who killed it with tears streaming down his face.


After: With blood gushing from his face, and his assistants distracting the bull, Padilla is helped from the ring


Before: Juan Jose Padilla pictured three months before the goring during July's San Fermin fiestas in Pamplona

source: dailymail