This footage is incredibly disturbing to watch.
While Ireland were busy securing a memorable result against Germany in Gelsenkirchen last night, sheer mayhem broke out at another Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade.
No away fans were allowed to turn up at the meeting of two sides whose political history is incredibly fraught and the game was eventually brought to a halt when a remote-controlled drone with a flag depicting ‘Greater Albania’ was flown over the pitch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iUBsSlDXc0
Greater Albania is a theoretical area in which all ethnic Albanians would reside and it includes Kosovo, an area with a population consisting largely of ethnic Albanians that declared independence from Serbia in 2008; last night was the Albanian team’s first visit to Belgrade since 1967.
The flag was eventually grabbed and taken down by Serbia’s Stefan Metrovic and this prompted a reaction from the Albanian players and unseemly scenes on the pitch. Some supporters even got involved before the Albanian side eventually made their way towards the tunnel, where they were hit with objects thrown from the crowd and attacked by at least two supporters before riot police intervened.
According to Serbian state television, Olsi Rama, the brother of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, was arrested in the VIP section of the stadium on suspicion of instigating the flag stunt.
Speaking about what had happened, Serbian captain Branislav Ivanovic told reporters: “What happened is something we can’t comprehend at the moment.
“On behalf of my team, all I can say is that we wanted to carry on and that we shielded the Albanian players every step of the way to the tunnel (after the riot broke out).
“The Albanian team said they were unfit physically and mentally to carry on after talking to the officials and they will now decide the fate of this match. We can only regret that football took a back seat but it is difficult to draw any conclusions or make any comments now.”
Speaking to Albanian television, meanwhile, Albanian captain Lorik Cana said: “I saw my players being attacked and hit even inside the tunnel, and even by the stewards. We were not in the right psychological or physical state to continue playing.”
