Superstar matador gets gored by angry bulls

Matador Jose Tomas had a lucky escape yesterday when he was gored not once, but TWICE during a bullfight in Madrid.

The 32-year-old, who is widely considered one of the best bullfighters of all time, was competing at the Las Ventas bullring in the Spanish capital when he sustained his injuries.

Tomas, who received medical treatment at the scene, sustained one groin injury that looked exceptionally painful.

Just two weeks ago, Tomas survived another goring during a bullfight at the 'El Coso de los Califas' ring in Cordoba.

Following that incident, veteran critic Juan Belmonte of Canal Sur television in Seville said that success in bullfighting is a question of having a unique style, a personal flair that breaks the mould that usually makes one matador virtually indistinguishable from the next - and in this Tomas excels.

Tomas gets up very close to the bull - both before luring it into a charge and as it rumbles by - and looks relaxed and natural in his bravado, showing utter disregard for all the danger, Belmonte said.

He added, 'You realise that the guy out there gives the impression that he does not care if he dies right then.'

Tomas left bullfighting behind in 2002, at the peak of his career, without saying why, and returned to the sport a year ago.

He told the newspaper El Pais in May last year that he was coming back because 'living without bullfighting is not living'.