Copa America 2024: Some of the Uruguay players and Colombia fans at the Bank of America stadium were seen getting involved in a fight on Thursday in the semifinal between these two teams. Liverpool's star player Darwin Nunez were one of the few to have punched the fans in the stadium after the match. The fans threw caps, cans and punched the Uruguay players, who were going back to their dressing room after suffering a humiliating loss.
A fan shared a video, which went viral, where Darwin Nunez is seen getting prompted by the fans of the Columbian fans and also punched a few of them. Barcelona's Ronald Araujo and Atletico Madrid's Jose Maria Gimenez also stood besides Nunez after the fight began. The police officers then tried to calm the situation down and took the players away from the stands. The players, along with Nunez then met their families, who too faced the wrath of the fans.
Watch the video here:
Uruguay skipper Gimenez slammed the security officials in Charlotte and admitted that the players were worried about the wellbeing of their families and also criticized the Colombian fans for being hostile throughout the match.
Our families were suffering
“It’s a total disaster. There wasn’t a single police officer. They showed up half an hour later. A disaster. And we were there, standing up for ourselves, for our loved ones," Gimenez told broadcasters in the post-match press conference.
“Our families are suffering because of some people who have a few drinks and don’t know how to drink, who act like children. Hopefully, they’ll take more precautions for the next game so this doesn’t happen again, because this is a disaster," he added.
Nunez, who was shocked after this fight, was comforted by his Liverpool teammates Luis Diaz and veteran Luis Suarez.
Uruguay lost the Copa America final since they were not consistent with their performances. Nunez missed three chances, which could have helped the team take the lead during the first half but then in the 39th minute Colombia's Jefferson Lerma scored the goal.
Colombia played with 10 players after Daniel Munoz was asked to leave the field after being handed yellow card for elbowing Uruguay's Manuel Ugarte on the chest. It turned out to be a heated affair, where the referee gave out seven yellow cards, which also includes a red card.