Darwin Nunez and several teammates entered the stands and became embroiled in a brawl with Colombia fans inside Bank of America Stadium after Uruguay's heated 1-0 loss in the Copa America semifinals Wednesday.

Nunez, in particular, appeared incensed as he punched at least one fan while beverages and debris were hurled at the Uruguayan players.

Defender Jose Gimenez said the players were trying to defend their family members, who were outnumbered and in danger in that section of the crowd.

"Let me say something before they cut you off because they won't let us speak into the microphone, they don't want me to say anything about what's going on, but this is a disaster," Gimenez said on the official broadcast, according to ESPN. "Please be careful, our families are in the stands, there are little newborn babies. It was a disaster; there was no police, and we had to defend our families.

"This is the fault of two or three people who had a few too many drinks and don't know how to drink."

Scuffles between the two sets of fans had already broken out before the players arrived on the scene. The vast majority of the 70,000 people in attendance were supporting Colombia, with Uruguayan fans sprinkled amongst them throughout the stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"It was an instinctive, natural reaction to defend their kids, their partners, parents and siblings," Ignacio Alonso, president of the Uruguayan Football Association, said of the incident, according to ESPN.

"There are families in the stands at every tournament. Normally there is a cordon or something similar."

Roughly 100 Uruguayan fans and federation staff members remained on the field after security guards and police restored order and the Colombian supporters left the stadium, according to Steve Reed of The Associated Press.

CONMEBOL, which organizes the Copa America and could levy suspensions or fines, is investigating the incident.

Nunez's club, Liverpool, is contacting the forward imminently to get a clearer picture of what transpired, sources told Mark Ogden of ESPN.

Uruguay is scheduled to play Canada in the tournament's third-place game Saturday.