The father of Paris Saint Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte has moved to explain why the likes of Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur reacted as they did in the scenes after the clash with Colombia.
Miguel Ugarte has been speaking to El Pais regarding the incidents in the clash between Uruguay’s players and Colombian fans that have shocked the Copa America.
A section of Colombian fans were accused of attacking a section of the stadium holding family members from the Uruguay squad, some who were there with small children.
That prompted a fierce reaction from Marcelo Bielsa’s squad, with Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez seen throwing a chair and climbing into the stands to fight fans face to face.
Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur was similarly incensed and saw his anger backfire somewhat, with Clarin reporting yesterday that his decision to thrown a water bottle into the stands at fans saw him unfortunately strike a member of the Uruguay coaching team instead.
The pair, and indeed most of those involved, are likely to face investigations into the incident, with some defending their actions given they believed their family may have been in danger.
Now Ugarte’s father has moved to explain what happened, and why the likes of the Tottenham man were so incensed.
“The beginning of the problem that took on a greater magnitude was when the fist bumps started on the stairs; the game was over and we realized that things were getting ugly,” he said.
“Colombians came down and to the right of where I was with my wife the first bumps started. We ran away, and our other problem jumped to the side.
“I remember seeing Rodrigo Bentancur’s wife with the very scared girl, Federico Valverde’s wife too; they are three-year-old boys. Bottles were flying, I tripped over a chair, and we went down behind the bench of substitutes.
“At one point my wife got very nervous, they started hitting, the police came and started sweeping everything away. My wife saw how they hit an elderly person, and she became unwell.”
