As if being eliminated from the 2014 World Cup wasn't bad enough, the team from Spain's ride home was even tougher when their plane carrying most of the player was hit by lightning just before it landed in Madrid.
The team was on Iberia Flight 2907 on the way home on Tuesday when it was hit with lightning. An airlines spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the lightning strike did not cause damage , no one was injured and the plane carry the team was able to land without issue.
The flight was met with poor weather as the team made its way home. There were stormy conditions around Madrid when the lightning strike occurred. Planes being hit by lightning is rare but it tends to happen at least once a year.
Spain, the defending champions, had an embarrassing early exit from the World Cup in Brazil. They team had tough losses against Holland and Chile in Group B. Tey got condolation by winning 3-0 against Australia on Monday but it wasn't enough to keep them in.
"We are not pleased with our overall performance at the World Cup," Vicente Del Bosque said to Spanish newspaper El Mundo. "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."
After being booted from the championship, twenty of the team's 23-members took the Iberia flight home which was hit by lightning. The plane was also carrying team staff members and journalists.
According to Spanish media sources, the players got in vans right after leaving the airpot and didn't speak to the media or the 200 fans that showed up to greet them.
