Those who were waiting for the match between Millonarios and Deportes Tolima this afternoon witnessed an unusual scene.
A fan of the local team jumped onto the pitch and punched Millonarios midfielder Daniel Cataño, who responded with a kick and ended up sent off.
The referee, after moments of high tension, suspended the match this Sunday.
At the Manuel Murillo Toro de Ibagué stadium, the game was about to start when Cataño was attacked from behind by a fan.
After the blow, the player ran after the fan, dressed in the Tolima shirt, and also hit him.
Referee Roldán drew a red card and the players and the Millonarios coaching staff decided to leave the field of play.
Tolima fan invades the field before starting the game and attacks Daniel Cataño.
Cataño reacts and hits the fan.
Red for Cataño.
pic.twitter.com/JCmzMBIY45
— Soccer Without Cracks (@FutbolSinCrack) February 12, 2023
Those from Tolima stayed for a few minutes and their president, César Camargo, accused the rivals of sabotaging the game.
“Two reprehensible facts.
The fan thing gets out of control and will have to be prosecuted.
And for a team to withdraw from the field is a boycott of the game and the sport, it is not worth putting pressure on us in that way,” Camargo told Win Sports.
Millionaires, according to local media, sought to negotiate the start of the game by asking the judge to retract Cataño's expulsion, but when he refused, the team went to the dressing room, amid insults from the fans.
After 40 minutes into the incident, the game was cancelled.
In a press release, Millonarios did not refer to the expulsion of his player and assured that he withdrew from the field because they did not feel safe.
“It was not prudent to compromise his integrity.
Acts of violence must be rejected."
Millionaires captain David Macalister Silva spoke in the same vein.
“This is the football that corresponds to all of us, and our safety, of the coaching staff, of the players, is above anything (...) We have to set a precedent so that we educate ourselves as a society.
We have to take care of each other."
The sports press pointed out yesterday that Cataño had been rebuked at the door of the concentration hotel by Tolima fans, who continue to reproach him for having missed a final penalty when he was a player for his team.
Cataño was accused of having given away to the rival team, when he played for Tolima.
The Dimayor has not ruled on what happened this afternoon at the Manuel Murillo Toro.
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