Club America players accuse UNAM's Dario Veron of racial abuse

Club America players have accused Pumas defender Dario Veron of directing racial abuse toward America winger Darwin Quintero during Sunday's playoff match.

Tempers flared at numerous moments during the two-legged semifinal between Mexico City clubs, with America being reduced to nine men in both legs. Pumas rode a 3-0 advantage. After the match, America goalkeeper Moises Munoz alleged that Veron had called Quintero, a Colombian winger who is black, an "ape."

"The only thing I want to comment on is the large pain I feel with respect to my professional colleague Dario Veron," Munoz said in a post-match news conference. "Yesterday, you (members of the media) were at a news conference when we invited people not to be violent, something that supposedly starts from the pitch, and it didn't happen because Veron — being the on-field captain of a soccer team that represents the largest number of students in our country — referred to Darwin Quintero as an ape."

Veron, a Paraguayan defender who has been with Pumas since 2003, denied the accusations, saying he was confused when Quintero approached him angrily after the match.

"Quintero looked for me a lot, and I don't know why. I never discussed anything with him," Veron told reporters. "I was just talking with my countryman, with Osvaldito Martinez, who I told that American has a good squad, that it was impressive, that we were dead at the back, that we were struggling a lot. Later I was talking with (Michael) Arroyo, not with Quintero. And he came into headbutt me, and I said, 'What? What happened to you? I'm not talking with you, I'm talking with Arroyo.' From there, Cepillo (Oribe Peralta) also came in.

"But I'm calm because I didn't say anything. I didn't do anything. I didn't get into it with them, and surely they don't know how to lose. Nothing more."

While Quintero, who Munoz said has experienced racist comments and gestures since arriving to the league with Santos Laguna in 2009, was initially silent, he has since taken to Twitter and confirmed Munoz's accusations.

"It hasn't been long since they told me that in Toluca they had called me ape and at that time I said that when the offenses come from off the pitch, it doesn't have to break your concentration, but when a person who is on the field does it, one is unable to stay silent," he wrote on Twitter. "I apologize for my reaction, but this can't be tolerated. Thanks to everyone for your supportive words, we went out like warriors and now continue working toward the dream of playing a big part in Japan."

Last month, Liga MX suspended Puebla vice president Alvaro Flores for a year after former Puebla defender Efrain Cortes accused Flores of using racial slurs during contract negotiations.