The magical night that Real Sociedad experienced in sports, sealing their place in the second round of the Champions League after overwhelming Benfica (3-1), was marred by the serious disturbances that occurred before and during the match by the most active fans. radicals of the Portuguese team. There were police charges around the stadium and flares were fired from the visiting stands and up to four people were arrested.
Given the seriousness of the events, the president of Real, Jokin Aperribay, appeared before the media in the press room after the match to condemn the events and harshly attack the Benfica ultras, whom he described as "criminals." “La Real will take criminal action against the criminals who launched the flares. We are not going to admit it. There are enough cameras in the home away stand area, we identify everyone so the police know who they are. “La Real will use all means at its disposal to pursue these criminals,” he said.
The Txuri-Urdin leader apologized to the fans for not having been able to prevent the launching of up to three flares from the stands of the Portuguese fans towards those of the Real Sociedad: “It pains me to appear on this magnificent night, but I want to ask for forgiveness from the Real fans. We have seized a lot of material from Benfica fans, there have been countless searches, but it has not been possible to seize everything,” he lamented.
At night, the Royal Society published a photograph with all the material seized at the entrances to the Reale Arena: stones, lighters, screws, flares... Before, the streets of San Sebastián witnessed serious altercations with around fifty Benfica ultras such as protagonists.
The Real fans were gathered around the Plaza de las Armerías, the usual meeting place for royalist fans, when between fifty and sixty Portuguese radicals burst in and the fight began. Hooded and dressed in black, they rampaged through the streets of the city, throwing chairs from the terraces of the bars and destroying urban furniture in their path.
The Ertzaintza carried out several charges around the stadium and four people were arrested. One of them, from Gipuzkoa, but “was not a member of Real”, as the Txuri-Urdin president later confirmed. A dozen people had to receive medical assistance. Already in the stadium, the ultras threw up to three flares at the Real fans while the entire stadium reprimanded them with whistles and shouts of “out, out.”
“Some matches are turning into previous fights. There is a problem that does not have an easy solution, but we will go to these people with all possible means. They are criminals,” Aperribay concluded.
