MADRID (AP) — Rayo Vallecano supporters stopped their team’s La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday by throwing paper airplanes onto the field, leaving the match in danger of being suspended.
The fans, who are unhappy with the management of club owner and president Raúl Martín Presa, forced the match to stop in the 13th minute, when the Rayo players also walked to the sideline. The game had still not resumed by the 20th minute when the stadium announcer said the game would be suspended if the protests continued.
It resumed in the 24th, but was stopped again shortly afterward. The players and officials left the field, and the fans chanted against Presa.
It’s Rayo’s first league game of the season in its home ground in the left-wing Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas since city authorities closed the stadium over safety concerns. The team was forced to play its home games elsewhere after the local government revoked the club’s stadium license because of its dilapidated and alleged unsafe condition.
Rayo fans also chanted against Presa during a friendly match at the stadium last week and graffiti saying “Presa, leave now” appeared on the presidential box.
Mariano de Paco, the region’s minister for sports, had called for calm the day before the match, adding in a social media post that “Rayo will get the stadium it deserves. Have faith.”
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