Ignacio Alonso, president of the Uruguayan Football Association, said on Wednesday, July 10, that the Uruguayan players involved in the fight with some Colombian fans in the stands of the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte (North Carolina) ““They simply went to protect their family.”
According to the criteria of
“So far, what we’ve had is internal dialogue, knowing that there was a natural, instinctive reaction, from a father, a husband, a brother, a son, seeing his family in a very difficult moment and seeing that they weren’t allowing evacuation to the field, which is what the protocol indicates,” said Alonso in the mixed zone after the second semifinal of the Copa América.
Uruguay lost 0-1 to Colombia and was eliminated from the tournament. At the end of the match, some players, including Darwin Núñez and Maximiliano Araújo, jumped over the barriers and went to the stands, where they fought with some Colombian fans.
“They were surrounded, access to the field was blocked and at that moment the people were very trapped, and they were also surrounded by an impressive number of Colombian fans and some, As José María Giménez said, they had an aggressive attitude towards them and afterwards there were some skirmishes that some people had to go out to break up”Alonso added.
“Then, when some Uruguayan players noticed, they appeared to try to protect their children, their family, their mother, their mother-in-law, their wife, their brothers. The situation got worse, but I think it’s a natural reaction to realizing what was happening,” he added.
“We also suffered an attempted invasion of the box, they threw things, said things, we had to let children into the box. But it was only a few minutes and that was it. We have to see the images, talk about them and evaluate them,” he insisted.
Alonso also assured that the AUF has a law department that is prepared to study the files that exist on what happened at the meeting.
What did Giménez say?
José María Giménez, captain of the Uruguayan national team, said that the Celeste players jumped into the stands and were involved in a fight with Colombian fans to defend their families, “who were in danger.”
“We had to go into the stands to take out our loved ones, including a tiny newborn baby. It was a complete disaster. There wasn’t a single police officer, they fell after half an hour. It was a complete disaster and we were there defending our own,” said Giménez in a televised statement after the conclusion of the Copa América semi-final in which Colombia defeated Uruguay (1-0).
EFE
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