WATCH: Young bullfighter dies in horror goring at Lisbon arena debut as thousands watch
A PORTUGUESE bullfighter has died after being fatally gored during his professional debut at Lisbon’s packed Campo Pequeno arena.
Manuel Maria Trindade, 22, was taking part in his first professional tourada (bullfight) on August 22 when a 695-kilogram bull charged him with devastating force in front of nearly 7,000 spectators.
The young forcado – part of a team whose job is to confront bulls unarmed with just their bare hands – was lifted off the ground and smashed against the arena wall. The bull’s horn pierced his body, causing massive trauma.
Paramedics rushed him to Lisbon’s Sao Jose Hospital where doctors placed him in an induced coma, but he died hours later from cardiac arrest.
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A 73-year-old spectator in the crowd collapsed and later died from a burst aorta while watching the horror unfold.
Footage of the incident has spread rapidly on social media, reigniting fierce debate over bullfighting ethics.
Portuguese touradas are widely promoted as far more humane than their Spanish corrida de toros counterparts across the border, making Trindade’s death all the more shocking.
Forcados use no protection, cape or weapon – only their bodies against half-tonne animals.
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Unlike in Spain, where matadors are guaranteed to kill the bull with a final sword thrust. Portuguese rules strictly prohibit slaughtering the animal in the ring.
This ‘humane’ approach has made Portuguese bullfighting the poster child for a kinder form of the controversial sport.
Instead, the centrepiece is the pega de cara or ‘face catch’, where eight forcados work as a team to subdue the charging bull using only human strength.
The leader grabs the bull’s horns while his teammates pile on to bring the animal down.
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Portuguese cavaleiros on horseback use lances to provoke charges earlier in the performance, but their weapons are not designed to kill. The bull is led away alive once subdued.
This stands in stark contrast to Spain’s corrida de toros, where bulls face a guaranteed death sentence. Spanish bulls are systematically tortured by mounted picadors who drive lances into their necks, then pierced with barbed banderillas before the matador delivers the fatal blow.
The animal’s slow, public execution is the entire point of the Spanish spectacle.
Portugal’s approach focuses on human bravery rather than animal slaughter.
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It’s this ‘civilised’ image that has allowed Portuguese bullfighting to continue while Spain faces growing international pressure to ban the practice.
Some bulls are spared for other uses or returned to pasture, and their horns may be blunted before entering the ring.
But critics point out that while bulls aren’t killed publicly, many still face slaughter once removed from the arena.
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