Controversial Soccer Star Darwin Núñez and His Girlfriend Had a Child in 2022

Soccer star Darwin Núñez recently made headlines for a less-than-favorable reason — he was involved a physical confrontation with group of fans after a match. According to BBC, the Liverpool player was angered "after his national team Uruguay were beaten [by Colombia] on Wednesday evening," and a fight reportedly broke out in the stands where many of the Uruguay players' family and friends were sitting. Darwin was seen climbing up railings at the North Carolina stadium to insert himself into the situation.

According to some fans, Darwin was just trying to protect his family, who were also sitting in the stands. One person on X said, "Darwin Núñez attacked drunk [Colombia] fans to protect his wife and his child. He will gladly take the consequences to keep his family safe."

Who are Darwin's wife and child? Here's what we know.

In an Instagram post made on January 8, 2022, Darwin shared a photo of himself, his partner, and his newborn son in the hospital. The caption read, "The happiest day of our lives!" It also indicated that his son was born on January 3. In subsequent posts, fans learned that their new baby was also named Darwin, after his father.

Baby Darwin is Darwin's first child. On the child's second birthday, which happened on January 3, 2024, Darwin posted another snap on Instagram with a caption which roughly translates to, "Today is the day of the love of our lives, the best gift that life gave us." In the photo, baby Darwin sits in front of an adorable cake with his name on it.

Though Darwin and the mother of his son aren't officially married, they've been together for a while. Lorena Mañas, who has been referred to as his "wag" — a term that stands for "wives and girlfriends" and is often used to refer to partners of professional athletes — reportedly hails from Spain.

Baby Darwin is actually Lorena's second child — her first is a daughter named Chloe, whose father is ex-Barcelona player Aleix Vidal. According the The Sun, the pair were married from 2015 to 2018 before calling it quits.

In a video shared by The Sun, Darwin was seen comforting his son after the aforementioned fight between Uruguay and Colombia fans. In the clip, the player is visibly emotional while holding his son in his arms. The Sun also shared that several other players involved in the altercation were furious with the situation and lack of security that put their families in danger.

Atletico Madrid defender Giminez said, "They don't want me to say anything about what's going on, but this is a disaster ... Please be careful. Our families are in the stands; there are little newborn babies."