Austria star was punished by UEFA for insulting Albanians

Marko Arnautović is the footballer with the most appearances and the most goals for Austria’s national team. The 36-year-old has made 130 appearances and scored 47 goals for Austria, where he continues to be one of the key players.

Arnautović’s father is Serbian, and he currently plays for Belgrade’s Crvena Zvezda. And he holds anti-Albanian views.

He was punished by UEFA in 2021 for insulting Albanians. He was given a one-match ban.

This concerns an incident that took place at Euro 2020, held in 2021 because of the coronavirus.

In their opening group-stage match, Austria had beaten North Macedonia 3-1.

Arnautović scored for Austria in the 89th minute. He made it 3-1.

After the goal, Arnautović clashed with two of North Macedonia’s Albanians, Ezgjan Alioski and Egzon Bejtullai. Defender Bejtullai now plays for Drita and spoke about the incident on Friday.

“Alioski was more involved, but I was there too. An incident occurred, and he was seen insulting the Albanian mother. He did the insulting in Serbian. That is why he was also punished by UEFA,” Bejtullai said.

He said they had not let the Serbian-born provocateur get away with it; throughout his career, he has wanted to be known as a “tough guy.” The Albanians who were on the pitch insulted him too.

Bejtullai, 32, has played 27 matches for North Macedonia. His appearance at the European Championship is one of the highlights of his career.

After the incident, Arnautović had apologised.

“There were some hateful words in the heat of the match, for which I want to apologise, especially to my friends from North Macedonia and Albania,” Arnautović had written. He had written that he is not a racist.

Nevertheless, Bejtullai and the other North Macedonian Albanians who were at Euro 2020 know Arnautović’s true face.

He is expected to be part of Austria’s squad in the autumn for the two matches against Kosovo, which are part of the new edition of the Nations League.

Bejtullai believes Kosovo has good chances in Group B3, where Israel and Ireland are also drawn. He even says Kosovo has a strong chance of success in the matches against Austria as well.

The focus of the “Dardanians” remains on the March 26 match against Slovakia, which is the semi-final of the World Cup qualifying playoffs.

“I think Kosovo has a very good chance against Slovakia. I even consider them favourites. In previous matches, Kosovo has shown a truly high level,” Bejtullai said.