Akanji adds insult to injury by waving farewell to Serbia and 'shouting bye'

After an incident-packed and feisty 3-2 win, Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji had the last laugh after waving Serbia goodbye as his side progressed to the second round at their rivals' expense.

The Manchester City centre-back was photographed with his arm above his side waving in the direction of the Serbian side at the final whistle, with the rest of his side huddled together celebrating the result on the pitch.

In a back and forth clash, the lead three times changed hands with the scores locked at 2-2 by the interval, before Nottingham Forest's Remo Freuler finished off a flowing team move to seal the memorable win three minutes after half-time.

With the rest of his team-mates revelling in their thrilling victory, Akanji took it upon himself to have the final say following a game that was fiercely fought by both sides.

In a parting jibe to the eliminated Serbians he was snapped with his hand aloft to rub some extra salt into the wound following the battling performances of both sides.

The defender could also be heard shouting 'bye' to the Serbian side, according to reports, in what is surely a hugely inflammatory gesture.

In total, the clash saw 32 fouls and 10 yellow cards - six for Serbia and four for the Swiss.

And the rivalry once again spilled onto the pitch late on in Friday's group stage meeting, after Arsenal's Granit Xhaka was pushed by Nikola Milenkovic in the chest, which resulted in an on-field melee that required several minutes to dissipate.

The pair have a tense history after Swiss goalscorer Xherdan Shaqiri controversially celebrated with a double-eagle hand gesture - emblematic of the two-headed eagle on the Albanian flag - at the World Cup in Russia 2018.

There was also an audible PA announcement warning spectators against discriminatory and political language, following an incident that saw a crowd of stewards proceed towards a group of fans early into the second half.

Until Friday's game there had been no examples of such behaviour from fans, and the Qatar World Cup had in general been praised for the well-behaved spectators at matches, despite concerns prior to the tournament.

The PA announcement was in response to apparent monkey chants that could be heard from certain section of the stands, which put a dampener on what had been an excellent game of football.

Switzerland will now go on to play Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal on Tuesday evening, with a place in the quarterfinals at stake, while Serbia will prepare to make the trip home with Akanji's final farewell surely in the back of their minds.