UEFA have opened an investigation into Marko Arnautovic’s heated goal celebration during Austria’s Euro 2020 win over North Macedonia on Sunday.
The North Macedonian football federation said on Monday it had submitted a request to UEFA to punish Arnautovic for a nationalist outburst after he scored during the match.
“We are always against nationalism, discrimination and all other forms of insults and outbursts that are not in the spirit of football and the values that we all stand for together,” the federation said in a statement released late on Monday.
Arnautovic has denied using racist language during the match in Bucharest, but apologised for his goal celebration in a post on Instagram.
The 32-year-old could be banned for the rest of the tournament if UEFA deems him to have used racially aggregating language.
What happened?
Arnautovic scored Austria's third goal in Sunday's game and celebrated. There have been claims on social media he used an anti-Albanian slur towards Egzon Bejtulai, who is of that background.
He was then pictured having a heated exchange with Leeds player Ezgjan Alioski after the goal.
Alioski is also of Albanian heritage, while Arnautovic has a Serbian background. There is a historic tension between Serbia and Albania, while the same can be said of Serbia and North Macedonia.