A pigeon briefly stopped play during Atletico Madrid's 3-2 win over Real Sociedad with unflappable defender Jose Gimenez plucking the bird off the pitch and taking it to safety. The stoppage came in the 22nd minute with the Uruguayan removing the injured bird from the pitch after it had apparently been hit by the ball. Speaking about the incident, Spanish media reported Gimenez as saying: "I asked the referee what was happening. You stopped the match because of the pigeon?' I hope it wasn't seriously hurt."

Source: BBC March 07, 2026 21:00 UTC