Former Celtic player Emilio Izaguirre wounded in deadly Honduras football riot

Former Celtic defender Emilio Izaguirre was hit in the eye by a shard of glass when his team bus was attacked with stones before a football derby in Honduras.

Emilio Izaguirre was hit in the eye by glass after bus windows were smashed. Picture: contributed

The attack on the Motagua team bus sparked rioting inside and outside the stadium before Saturday’s match against Olimpia in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.

Three people were killed and at least 10 injured, some of them shot or stabbed.

Three of those wounded – Izaguirre and teammates Roberto Moreira and Jonathan Rougier – were in the Motagua team bus. They were taken to hospital with facial injuries after stones smashed the windows.

The match was abandoned as a result of the violence.

Left-back Izaguirre, 33, shared an Instagram post showing a dressing covering his left eye.

“Thank God everything is fine, it was only the scare,” he said.

He said “little pieces of glass fell in my eye” but it was “nothing serious”.

Izaguirre said it was “painful” to think of those who had been killed in the rioting.

In statements on Twitter, Motagua said the violence was “reprehensible and lamentable”.

It added: “This has to be severely sanctioned by the corresponding authorities.”

The club also tweeted photographs and video of the broken windows of the team bus, and the three injured players being treated in hospital.

It blamed members of the Ultra-Faithful Olimpia fan club for the violence.

Olimpia and Motagua have a history of bitter rivalry, with frequent clashes between fans.

Celtic fans reacted with shock on social media after 
the violence. “Emilio Izaguirre, Celtic loves you more than you will know,” tweeted Chris Kelly. “Get well soon.”

Izaguirre won more than 100 caps for the Honduras national team and was in the squad 
for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

He started his football career at Motagua, where he played for seven years.

Celtic signed him for £650,000 in 2010.

In his debut season, he won the Scottish Professional 
Footballers’ Association 
Players’ Player of the Year, the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Footballer of 
the Year and the Scottish 
Premier League Player of the Year.

He played more than 250 games across all competitions for Celtic, winning six consecutive league titles in his first spell at the club and a further league title when he rejoined for a second spell.

After turning down another one-year deal with Celtic, he rejoined Motagua this month.