Car Crashes Into Crowd Before Barcelona's Derby Clash With Espanyol | OneFootball

Catalan police confirmed that 15 people were injured after a car accelerated into a crowd which had gathered outside Espanyol's stadium for Thursday night's league meeting with Barcelona.

There were more than 34,000 people at the RCDE Stadium for the midweek Catalan derby. Barcelona nervily edged out a 2–0 victory which confirmed their status as La Liga champions, but there was a risk of the fixture getting postponed after reports of injuries to multiple fans began to filter through to those in the ground.

"A person driving a vehicle on an open road was surrounded by fans heading to the stadium and, for some reason that is still unclear, accelerated to leave the scene," Eduard Sallent, commissioner of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and head of the Metropolitan Police Region South, told assembled media, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.

Sallent revealed that the driver "was not traveling at an excessive speed," but rather that the car "was stopped, tried to exit, and, in the exit maneuver, hit the people in front of it".

Shortly after the incident—which occurred approximately two minutes after kick-off at 9 p.m local time—the Catalan Health Department revealed on X that 13 people had been affected. Four were "in less serious condition" and taken to hospital while three were admitted to Sant Joan de Déu children's hospital in "mild condition".

The latest reports confirmed by police put the figure of injured individuals at 15. The driver was arrested at the scene.

"This is not the first nor the last case," Sallent added. "These are situations that occur on other occasions, and what doesn't happen is that the driver presses the accelerator."

The individual under investigation was not found to have consumed any alcohol or narcotics, instead Sallent claimed that they "felt harassed".

Thursday's fixture between Espanyol and Barcelona was paused for over two minutes following the outside incident. Referee Cesar Soto Grado communicated with both sets of players and coaching staffs as well as police before ensuring that the game restarted. Large swathes of seats at one end of the ground were vacated by fans protesting against the continuation of the contest during the first half.

Police chief Sallent judged that there was no "impact on the security of the event" and so "the match could be carried out".