Violence interrupts Serbia-Albania match in Belgrade

This pressure made the local players euphoric and caused some harsh interventions against the Albanian players.

Two shots on target from Cana and Mavraj in the 35th and 38th minutes made the situation even worse for the Serbian fans, who started throwing solid objects and fireworks on the field.

Then a remotely controlled mini-quad-copter flew over the players, carrying a flag with Albanian symbols, with the word “authoctonus” in it.

Two Serbia players tried to tear the Albanian symbols on the field, but their efforts were stopped by Xhaka and Lila, who defended the Albanian flag.

In this moment the situation went out of control. Serbian fans broke the police cordon and started using violence against Albanian players. Present on the field was also Ivan Bogdanovic, the Serbian hooligan who burned the Albanian flag during a match between Serbia and Italy in Genoa, and cause it to be abandoned too.

The referee interrupted the match after the police was incapable to protect the players of the Albanian national team.

“Many players were hit by the Serbian fans who entered the field, and others in the tunnel. In such cases, the result goes automatically to 0-3 for Albania. This is very clear”, said the Chief of Competitions at the Albanian Football Federation, Ilir Shulku.

“When we were preparing to leave for the airport, the Serbian police started searching us for the helicopter that flew in the field, thinking that it was taken by our players. The worse part is that in the tunnel we were attacked even by the Serbian police, who were not allowing us to get inside”, said the manager of the Albanian National Team, Alban Bushi.

“Our boys have been physically hurt. Police didn’t help at all. We were forced to protect ourselves”, said Lorik Cana after the match, the Albanian captain.

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