Manuel Ugarte has broken his silence over the incident which saw him make an obscene gesture during the match between Uruguay and Argentina.
Last week, the PSG star and his Uruguayan teammates took on the reigning world champions. Marcelo Bielsa’s men won against Lionel Messi and company thanks to goals from Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo and Russian Darwin Nunez.
But it wasn’t Darwin Nunez’s goal that grabbed headlines after the match. Media attention instead focused on an incident involving Ugarte, Messi and AtlĂ©tico Madrid’s Rodrigo de Paul.
During a furious exchange between Ugarte and De Paul, the former pointed at Messi, then made a gesture mimicking fellatio at De Paul. After the match, Messi, angry, attacked the PSG player and his Uruguayan teammates.
“I prefer not to say what I think, but young people must learn. They have a good group, but they need to learn respect from the veterans. These matches are always intense but very respectful, so they have to learn a little“, the Inter Miami player told Telemundo.
Today, Manuel Ugarte broke his silence over the incident and insisted he wanted to apologize to De Paul. “When I was told that one of my actions had gone viral, I didn’t understand,” he told Uruguayan channel Sport 890. “I saw him and I wanted to die. It’s not good “.
“At the time, I didn’t really realize it. I probably did it without realizing it. When I was told it had gone viral, I didn’t even remember what I had done. Then I saw him and I was like, “I’m an animal!” I am an animal !
“Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, I do things I shouldn’t do. I haven’t spoken with him (De Paul), but of course I want to apologize because it’s something that went viral, but like he said, it’s still on the ground. »
