Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Uefa suspend Austria forward Arnautovic for insulting North Macedonia player


Wed 16 Jun 2021 | 05:30 PM
Mohamed Helba

Austria forward Marko Arnautovic has been halted by Uefa for one match after being found guilty of "insulting another player" in Sunday's Euro 2020 win over North Macedonia.

Arnautovic, who has Serbian heritage, had to be restrained by captain David Alaba as he celebrated his late goal.

Arnautovic appeared to direct comments at opponents Egzon Bejtulai and Gjanni Alioski, who have Albanian roots.

Arnautovic responded after the match by saying he he is "not a racist".

The 32-year-old was found guilty of misconduct, with Uefa not considering his actions to be discriminatory.

He wrote: "There were some heated words yesterday in the emotions of the game for which I would like to apologise, especially to my friends from North Macedonia and Albania.

"I would like to say one thing very clearly: I am not a racist.

"I have friends in almost every country and I stand for persity. Everyone who knows me is aware of that."