Uruguayan Fan Apologizes for Mocking Chapecoense Tragedy
Nicolás Correa, one of the fans of the Uruguayan team Nacional who mocked the Chapecoense tragedy during a Copa Libertadores match on January 31st, apologized today to both clubs and the Brazilian people.
"I want to apologize to the people of Brazil, the Chapecoense community, and Nacional, which is my life. Both the other guy and I, who appear in the video, are remorseful," said the tricolor fan to the local radio station Sport 890.
A video circulated on social media showing several Uruguayan fans making offensive gestures and mocking the tragic plane crash that occurred in 2016, in which a large part of the Chapecoense team, as well as their board and several journalists, lost their lives.
An interview with Nicolás Correa, a Nacional fan from Uruguay who insulted Chapecoense fans and mocked the plane crash, was posted on Twitter. This is an excerpt from the interview. Video: Youtube Audio: Sport890 Editing: Paco Vela
February 5, 2018
"We harmed the club, and now we are waiting for sanctions," said Correa, explaining that the atmosphere leading up to the match influenced his actions.
The Uruguayan fan recounted that before the start of the game, in the surroundings of Chapecó, the "atmosphere" was "heated," with people "insulting" and "hitting" tricolor fans.
"The Nacional fans were angry about that. When we entered the field, they started insulting us. Insults back and forth... Unfortunately, I came up with that gesture, and we all know how it ended," expressed Correa.
Nacional announced the expulsion of Correa and another fan from their membership roster for their "insensitive" and "lacking any sense of human dignity" behavior.
According to Correa, the club has permanently removed him from their membership roster and, according to what he claims to have read on social media, his access to the Gran Parque Central stadium in Montevideo is also banned.
For these reasons, and all the "falsehoods" that have been said about him, Correa believes that he has received a worse "social sentence" than that of a murderer, a rapist, or a thief.
"I think I have received a social sentence. You go out and steal, kill, or rape, and you don't receive the social sentence that I have," he pointed out, adding that he has received all sorts of messages, including threats and insults.
Despite Correa's expulsion from Nacional's membership roster and the formal apologies offered by the club, Chapecoense requested last Friday that Nacional be expelled from the Copa Libertadores to CONMEBOL.
Nacional will have until next Thursday, a day after the second leg match in Montevideo, to appeal against this request from the Brazilian club.