Spanish bullfighter gored in groin leaving testicle 'eviscerated' at Madrid's San Isidro festival

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A Spanish bullfighter has been gored in the testicles in front of thousands of spectators in Madrid.

Marco Galan was performing in the Feria de San Isidro on Sunday in Spain’s largest bullring, the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.

Footage showed him running up to the bull and thrusting two spears into its back before it reared its head, catching him on its horns and throwing him to the ground.

Warning: Some views may find this footage distressing

The left horn punctured his groin before the right went through his jacket and he was dragged along the ground by the animal, which had started to bleed heavily.

Mr Galan was filmed walking out of the ring as other fighters ran in to distract the bull.

He was left with a “bull horn wound in the scrotum which caused bruising and evisceration of the left testicle”, El Mundo reported.

The newspaper said Mr Galan underwent surgery at the bullring before being transferred to the San Francisco de Asís hospital.

Mr Galan is a banderillero, whose job it is to stab bulls with barbed sticks called banderillas while running as close to the animals as possible to demonstrate bravery.

The bull that gored him was eventually killed using the two banderillas and a “descabello” or final thrust.

Spain's parliament bestowed cultural heritage status on bullfighting in 2013, making it much harder for further bans beyond brought in by Catalonia in 2010, and the Canaries in the early 1990s, to take effect.

Despite controversy around the sport and global criticism from animal welfare groups, San Isidro’s bullfights are still extensively covered and reviewed by Spanish newspapers.

The festival was suspended last year for the first time in more than three decades after bulls gored two matadors and tossed a third into the air.

All three men were hospitalised with leg, arm and pelvis injuries but survived.