Spain's national soccer team was returning from the FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil on Tuesday when their plane was hit by lightning.
Iberia flight 2907 was stuck the bolt as it was landing at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport in Madrid, the airline's spokesman
confirmed to The Associated Press. Experts say commercial jets are struck by lightning roughly once a year. In this case, the airplane was not damaged and none of the 20 players on board were injured.
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Many said it was just one more stroke of bad luck for the team after a disastrous performance in the tournament. The defending champions, who won the cup in 2010 in South Africa, lost to both Holland and Chile, although did pull off a "consolation" win against Australia on Monday,
Fox Sports reported.
Spain's head coach, Vicente del Bosque, 63, told reporters, "We are not pleased with our overall performance at the World Cup. But it was important to finish with a win. Against Australia we handed a respectable performance, except in the opening 15 minutes of the game. But the efforts shown by my players against Australia is to be praised."
Upon landing at the Madrid airport, the players marched silently to their respective ground vehicles, bypassing both reporters and roughly 200 fans who had come to greet them without saying a word.
Some of the team's top stars, including Xavi Hernandez, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, and Pepe Reina, are expected to retire before the next global tournament.
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