3 hospitalized in attack before Rayo Vallecano's match in Poland

Three people were hospitalised after an attack on supporters of Rayo Vallecano travelling to a Europa Conference League match in eastern Poland, local police announced on Thursday. 

Then "around 50 people, some of them masked, emerged from the nearby forest. A confrontation ensued," the Masovian regional police said on X. 

"Thanks to the arrival of the police, escalation was avoided. On site, an ambulance team provided care to the injured, and three people were transported to hospital," the police added, without specifying the injured parties’ nationality. 

According to the police, two coach buses carrying the Spanish supporters were blocked by two passenger cars on an expressway near Ostrow Mazowiecka, in the east of the country, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.

Police did not specify that the fans were supporters of the Madrid club, but local media reported they were travelling to see Rayo, who face Jagiellonia in nearby Bialystok, close to the Belarusian border, on Thursday. 

The police say seven people had been arrested so far in connection with the incident. 

They noted that they seized, among other items, "balaclavas, telescopic batons, wooden sticks and metal bolt cutters".