By Seyi Babalola
Serbia, England’s first-round opponents, has requested that UEFA take action against Croatia and Albania after their fans yelled ‘kill, kill the Serb’ during Wednesday’s Group B encounter.
Croatia and Albania fought a thrilling 2-2 draw in Hamburg on Wednesday afternoon.
Klaus Gjasula saved a point for the Albanians in the sixth minute of stoppage time after Croatia came from behind to lead 2-1.
Unfortunately for both sides, whose qualification prospects are hanging by a thread, the game was overshadowed by anti-Serbian chants from both sets of fans.
According to The Sun UK, Jovan Surbatovic, the General Secretary of the Football Association of Serbia, has asked UEFA to punish Croatia and Albania for the reported chanting in the 59th minute.
He has warned that Serbia is prepared to withdraw from Euro 2024 if no action is taken.
He said: “First of all, I want to thank our fans for their support in the match against England and I hope we will beat Slovenia,” Surbatovic said.
“What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even if it means not continuing the competition.
“We are sure that they will be punished because they have already responded to our appeal to remove the so-called journalist from Albania from the championship. We will demand from UEFA to punish the federations of both selections.
“We do not want to participate in that, but if UEFA does not punish them, we will think how will we proceed.”
The Serbian FA was fined €14,500 (£12,200) when supporters hurled items onto the pitch during Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to England.
“We were punished for isolated cases and our fans behaved much better than the others,’ Surbatovic said.
“One fan was punished for racist insults and we don’t want it to be attributed to others.
“We Serbs are gentlemen and we have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen.”
It should be recalled that Serbia lost their first Group C game 1-0 against England on Sunday.
Serbia’s second Group C encounter against Slovenia is scheduled for Thursday afternoon before England faces Denmark in Frankfurt.
