Spanish soccer side Sevilla did not just lose 1-1 on penalties (4-3) to Medellin’s Atletico Nacional, but also baggage that apparently was stolen from their luxury hotel.
According to a press release on the official Sevilla FC website, the team returned to the hotel San Fernando Plaza after the loss at Atanasio Girardot Stadium to find that it had been robbed.
“Some of [the team’s] rooms had been burglarized. Not all. But some of the players and staff had things of significant value taken from them.”
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Planned theft is not unprecedented in international soccer — six players from the Spanish national team had their hotel rooms broken into in Recife, Brazil, during the recent Confederations Cup, and, in 2011, players from the Colombian side went through a similar experience in Madrid — and this is the second robbery of this nature to occur in Colombia within the past month. In late June, Real Santander had its locker room broken into in Northern Bucaramanga, with the perpetrators making away with over $20 million COP in cash and electronics.
MORE: Colombia’s soccer team robbed in Madrid
In this case, Sevilla has yet to announce how much was stolen, though it has said that the thieves were nice enough to remove passports, as well as car and house keys, before walking out with otherwise full bags of luggage.
Police are working with hotel staff to go over footage from the incident, and local Security Secretary Arnulfo Serna, who expressed his regrets that an international delegation should have its visit tainted by crime, has indicated that the hotel will be responsible for any lost possessions.
SOURCES