Gored bullfighter makes triumphant return to the ring

A Spanish bullfighter who lost the sight in one eye and has partial facial paralysis after a horrific goring, returned to the bullring just five months after his injury.

On Oct 8, a bull’s horn ripped into Juan Jose Padilla’s lower jaw and caused his left eyeball to protrude as spectators screamed in horror.

On Sunday night, wearing an eye patch and speaking with a lisp, Padilla, 38, fulfilled what he described as an unquenchable desire to once again face massive 1,100lb fighting bulls with the aid of only a cape and sword.

Padilla, the star attraction at the south-western town of Olivenza’s annual taurine festival, said he was returning to the ring because of a need “to win, to triumph, to be a better man”.

A capacity crowd of about 5,400 people, including die-hard connoisseurs, fashion models and well-known personalities, packed the town’s historic bullring, built in 1854.

The matador, who is also known by his professional name of “the Cyclone of Jerez”, wore a glittering matador’s “suit of lights” outfit that had been made for the occasion in gold braid and olive green, “for hope”, according to his tailor, Justo Algaba.

Padilla was greeted with loud cheers and enthusiastic clapping as he walked into the ring to the traditional “pasodoble” brass band music, before having two unaccompanied flamenco style “saeta” songs dedicated to him, an honour rarely accorded to bullfighters.

Despite lacking the two- eyed stereoscopic vision that allows people to judge distances and the speed of approaching objects accurately, Padilla had little trouble killing his first bull, before dedicating the second beast to his tearful father.

After killing his final bull, Padilla was carried out of the ring amid jubilant crowd scenes on the shoulders of fellow bullfighters who had shared the billing with him, a very rare salute.