A veteran Spanish matador was horrifically gored through the leg during a bull fight in Madrid.

Serafín Marín, 42, suffered a 30cm deep goring during the bull’s third pass at Las Ventas, Spain’s largest bullring, on Sunday.

In front of a crowd of more than 8,000, the seasoned Catalan bullfighter was lifted by the bull’s right horn, gored, and then tossed onto the ground.

As the white-footed bull turned to face Marín, four others wearing traditional garb intervened with capes to distract the bull.

With Marín being taken to the arena’s infirmary, Mexican bullfighter Juan Pablo Sánchez took over to confront the bull named Estafador, according to La Vanguardia.

‘I didn’t realise I had been gored until I entered the infirmary,’ Marín said today, after a night in hospital.

‘The blow to the head left me incredibly dazed and dizzy… and I was losing a lot of blood,’ he recounted, mentioning that the attack left him ‘completely surprised and unable to respond.’

Marín was the last matador to face a bull in his native Catalonia, which became the first region of Spain to ban the spectacle in 2012.

Marín is lifted into the air before being gored by Estafador the bull on Sunday

Footage showed how Marín was thrust into the air and dropped in the sand

The bullfighter was on his first pass of the season on Sunday when the opening bull struck and gored him through the leg.

Moments prior, he had flawlessly performed a verónica pass, gracefully sweeping the cape from one side to the other with both hands, when the bull shifted its attention toward the bullfighter’s groin, reported El Pais.

Marín was seen in arena footage being hoisted into the air and then dropped into the sand as the bull went in for another pass.

The bullfighter was left face down and bloodied, requiring help from colleagues to get to his feet.

‘He got up with the strap of his bag torn and blood pouring from his temple,’ Spanish outlet Aplausos reported.

Marín collapsed before being taken to the infirmary, according to local reports.

A medical report found the bull’s horn had torn through the outside of the right thigh, with an upward trajectory of some 30cm.

He was operated on locally before being taken to the Fraternidad Muprespa-Habana Hospital in Chamartín.

Marín said that he spent the night in the hospital ‘in a lot of pain’.

He said he had been preparing for the bullfight all year.

‘I’ll have to wait another year so the fans can see that I still have a lot to say in bullfighting.’ 

Thousands of bulls are killed in events across Europe every year.

The animals are chased, tormented and stabbed, before a matador kills the animal by plunging a knife into its lungs. 

Two days prior, PETA France activists were arrested during the opening bullfight of the Feria des Vendanges after storming the ground in protest.

The veteran bullfighter was impaled through the leg with a 30cm trajectory on Sunday

A French content creator was detained after storming an arena in France on Friday

Meanwhile, French content creator Jermstar wielding a sign that read ‘F*ck the bullfight’ was forcefully driven to the ground and pulled out of the arena by multiple men.

One of the protesters broke his foot before he was apprehended, PETA reported. 

All three had been in custody since Friday night, the group said on Sunday.

‘I wanted to take part in this action alongside PETA because watching images of bulls being tortured to death during bullfights shocked me and should chill the blood of anyone with a modicum of empathy,’ said Jeremstar. 

‘There is no justification for stabbing terrified animals or applauding as they slowly die in the ring. That’s torture, not culture!’