Quote:
The Football Association of Albania has been charged by Uefa for “refusing to play”, following the the abandoned Euro 2016 qualifier against Serbia in Belgrade. The Albanian FA has also been charged over the display of “an illicit banner” and there were charges too for its Serbian counterpart as Uefa opened disciplinary proceedings against both countries, who face stiff sanctions from the governing body.
The match was abandoned after a melee erupted after a mini unmanned drone trailed a pro-Albania flag over the stadium.
The Serbian hosts have been charged over “insufficient organisation,” fireworks being set off, missiles being launched, a crowd disturbance, a field invasion by supporters and the use of a laser pointer, Uefa said.
The case will be dealt with by Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body on 23 October.
The Serbian FA has launched fierce criticism of Albania claiming their team acted with restraint despite being provoked by the “offensive” flag and were then attacked when they tried to remove it from the field.
It said Albania’s response to the controversy had been “scandalous” and suggested it had been a “scenario of a terrorist action planned in advance”.
The statement said: “Serbian player Stefan Mitrovic managed to catch the flag and, as it can be clearly seen on all the footages, started to fold it as calmly as possible, in order to give it to the fourth official and for the match to be continued. Absolutely all of the Serbian players and officials on the bench were in their seats, calm and without any attempt to show force or rage because of the incident. However, Albanian players acted very aggressively and physically attacked Mitrovic.
“For the truth and justice we will not and do not want to allow the perpetrators who violated football to present themselves as victims.”
The statement said the Serbian FA had then asked Uefa to finish the match after emptying the stadium or to replay it this week but the Albania FA refused.
It added: “According to that, we estimate that they are directly guilty for the match abandonment and we expect that UEFA disciplinary bodies will register the match with 3:0 result, in favour of Serbia.
“It is a scandalous fact that the other party, with their ‘job well done’ is ridiculing not only FA of Serbia and Serbian people but also, we dare to say, Uefa.”
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http://www.theguardian.com/football/...ed-uefa-serbia
Serbs have got a case. Evidence is there that Albania instigated the melee not only by (through no fault of their own it could be argued) flying the banner but moreso by attacking the Serbian player that was removing it from the play area. Fact of the matter, regardless of what it was it was, it was a foreign object in the play area and had to go.
I think the key is if it is mentioned that it was offered to play the game after emptying the stadium. If Albania did indeed refuse that, then Serbia should be getting a 3-0 win.
