Uruguay striker Luis Suarez slammed Colombia for their “ugly” celebrations following Wednesday’s Copa America semi-final, which saw players’ families caught up in crowd violence.

Colombia advanced to their third Copa America final with a 1-0 victory in North Carolina, with Jefferson Lerma heading home the only goal in the first half.

However, the game was marred by ugly scenes as the families of some Uruguay players were caught up in violence involving Colombia supporters.

Colombia forward Miguel Borja also celebrated in front of Uruguay’s players after the full-time whistle, prompting Suarez to lash out at Los Cafeteros’ attitude.

“There are always squabbles, jokes or whatever, but what is annoying is the way they celebrated,” Suarez told reporters after the game.

“It makes no sense to celebrate like that. We eliminated Brazil the other day and none of us passed in front of any Brazil player.

“It was the opposite. We went to them afterwards because we are colleagues on the pitch and we know what it is like to be knocked out.

“To celebrate in front of a professional colleague like that is ugly. But what goes around comes around.”

Some players – including Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez and Atletico Madrid’s Jose Gimenez – climbed into the stands after the game to reach their family members as punches were by fans in Colombia shirts.

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Asked about the incident, Suarez said: “You see your partner, kids, parents, elderly people in the stands and you want to know how they are.

“Things had started to fall on them. No one wants to see those images, but obviously if you see that a family member is being attacked, you try and defend them.

“It does not justify what happened, but you have to realise they were trying to protect their families and their children.”