Austria’s third goal celebration against North Macedonia sparked controversy. David Alaba looks to strangle the mouth of the goalscorer, Marko Arnautovic. What is the reason?
Austria won their first win in Group C of the 2020 European Cup, Sunday (13/6/2021) night WIB. The team won 3-1 in the match that took place at the National Arena, Bucharest, that.
Stefan Lainer put Austria ahead in the 18th minute, before North Macedonia replied with Goran Pandev’s goal 10 minutes later. Austria added two additional goals in the second half through Michael Gregoritsch (78′) and Arnautovic (89′).
The incident occurred on the pitch as Marko Arnautovic celebrated a goal. The Serbian-blooded player was caught on camera shouting at North Macedonian players and fans in the stands.
Not only screaming, Arnautovic was even caught uttering obscenities. The 32-year-old striker cursed in Serbian, ‘Jebem sam ti majku iptarsku’, which means racism.
‘Šiptarsku’ in Serbian is a racist slur that demeans the Albanian ethnic group. The country of North Macedonia is filled with ethnic Albanians, especially those who came as refugees during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War which involved ethnic Serbs and Albanians.
Arnautovic’s racist insults to North Macedonian players and fans responded to Austrian captain David Alaba. The former Bayern Munich star tried to strangle Arnautovic’s mouth, so he wouldn’t say any more harsh words.
Alaba raises his voice regarding Marko Arnautovic’s actions. He said his compatriot was emotional because he was annoyed that he didn’t play fully and was only sent as a substitute.
“It is clear that he is not 100 percent satisfied, we players always want to play. However, you have seen what kind of character he is,” said David Alaba, quoted from Kicker.
“He came out and immediately gave 100 per cent. That’s why I view him positively. He was always there for the team, even when the coach told him that he would only sit on the bench,” he said.
Check out the summary of the excitement of Euro 2020/2021 here
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