La Cartuja chaos as erroneous evacuation alert clears stands within minutes | OneFootball

A faulty public address announcement at La Cartuja triggered confusion in the closing stages of Real Betis’s Europa League quarter-final against Sporting Braga, mistakenly instructing supporters to evacuate.

The alert sounded shortly before added time, with Betis facing defeat, and was repeated up to three times before a follow-up message told fans to remain seated. The club said in a statement that the mistake originated in the videoboard booth and was intended as a Portuguese notice advising supporters not to leave, later describing it as a message sent by the UCO.

Thousands of Betis fans began to file down the stairways quickly but in an orderly manner, and within minutes during stoppage time the stadium had thinned dramatically.

From a crowd of more than 66,000, the away end housing Braga’s followers became the most visible and most audible section by the final whistle.

The communication failure caused widespread bewilderment while the match was still being played, though it did not escalate further and no additional incidents were reported.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo