There were chaotic scenes in Uruguay’s OFI National Selection Cup at the weekend as a player was sent off for a brutal knockout punch on his opponent during a match.
Paysandu Interior came away from the first leg of the Regional Litoral final with a narrow 1-0 advantage over reigning champions Mercedes, with Kevin Guinco scoring the only goal of the game.
But the contest was marred by the shocking act of violence that occurred towards the end of the second half, which left visitors Mercedes with only ten men on the field for the closing stages.
A foul inside the box from Mario Gonzalez was what sparked the heated altercation involving both sets of players, with Enzo Echeveste appearing to grab the Mercedes forward by the neck during the melee.
In the heat of the moment, Gonzalez spun around and floored Echeveste with a devastating right hook, sending the Paysandu Interior defender crashing to the ground.
Gonzalez was immediately given his marching by the referee, with Echeveste laying motionless and sprawled out on the turf, and Paysandu Interior held firm to secure victory in front of a rapturous crowd in the club’s stadium in the north of Uruguay.
While there is still another 90 minutes to play, the home team were seen embracing each other and wildly celebrating the first-leg win after the final whistle.
Speaking shortly after the match, Echeveste was keen to draw a line under the incident and reassured supporters that he was ‘okay’.
Paysandu Interior star also thanked fans for the kind messages he had received following the clash.
‘Let’s forget what happened,’ he told Uruguayan media.
‘Everything is fine, and we need to focus on the next game.
‘Thank you all for your concern and messages. I’m okay.’
Though the severity of Gonzalez’s punishment is yet to be confirmed,
Gonzalez is expected to be slapped with a lengthy ban by football authorities in Uruguay but the severity of the punishment is yet to be confirmed.
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