A crucial Primera Liga match in Spain between Osasuna and Real Betis had to be put on hold for half an hour following the collapse of a guarding rail during the match.

The incident occured in the opening quarter of the match following Oriol Riera’s opening goal for Osasuna, which caused hysterical celebrations among fans and resulted in the guard rail at a section of the stadium giving way under pressure.

The referee immediately halted the match to allow medical treatment for injured fans, reportedly 68 in number, at the affected section, while the kick-off to the second half at other matches were delayed accordingly.

Osasuna, needing a win and other results in Spain to go their way in order to avoid relegation, went on to beat already relegated Real Betis 2-1 but get relegated nonetheless no thanks to full time scores at matches involving Almeria and Granada.

Almeria got a goalless draw at home to fourth placed Athletic Bilbao while Granada claimed a lone goal win over Real Valladolid to secure their La Liga status and condemn Valladolid to relegation along with Osasuna.

Elsewhere, Nigerian forward Ike Uche scored the second for Villarreal in a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad, replacing Sociedad in sixth place as a result. The goal was Uche’s 14th in the league this season.

Uche’s former club Getafe got a 2-1 win at Rayo Vallecano and Europa League winners Sevilla finished on a high in fifth place with a 3-1 win at home to Elche.

Atletico Madrid had on Saturday secured the league title in Spain following a 1-1 draw at second placed Barcelona, with Real Madrid finishing in third, level on points with Barcelona, after a 3-1 win over Espanyol.