Political tensions overshadowed the game

World media reported that the politically sensitive match between Serbia and Albania was interrupted last night due to the chaos that followed the appearance of a flag with a map of "Greater Albania" on the field.

American television CNN (CNN) reported that "ethnic tensions in the Balkans and an incident with a drone led to the suspension of the match in the qualifiers for the European Championship".

Stating that strong security measures had been taken for the football match, including a ban on Albanian fans, due to "great tension" over the Kosovo issue, CNN quoted Serbian team captain Branislav Ivanovic as saying that his teammates protected the Albanian players "every step of the way to tunnel" as chaos ensued.

CNN also emphasizes that four players of the Albanian team were born in Kosovo, including captain Lorik Cana, goalkeeper Etrit Berisha and central players Burim Kukeli and Ermir Lenjani.

American television also reminds that Kosovo can only play friendly matches, but not participate in FIFA or EUFA competitions, which means that some players from Kosovo have accepted the citizenship of other countries in order to play.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the British dailies "Guardian" and "Telegraph" point out that the incident happened a few days before the sensitive visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to Belgrade, the first of its kind after 68 years.

"Rama's visit to Serbia became possible after the normalization of relations, which was largely contributed to by the agreement reached in April 2013 between Belgrade and Pristina, with the mediation of the EU," according to AFP.

The relations between Tirana and Belgrade, as reported by the French agency, are sensitive primarily because of Kosovo and the Albanian minority in the south of Serbia, which is seeking greater autonomy.

AFP states that there are those in Belgrade who believe that Tirana has a plan to create a "greater Albania" and adds that around 5.000 Kosovo Albanians in Pristina greeted the end of the match with joyful shouts of "Greater Albania" and "Victory".

Reuters and the Associated Press (AP) also reported on the celebration in Pristina, recalling that Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 after the 1999 NATO bombing.

The British agency reported the assessment of the head of Serbian diplomacy, Ivica Dačić, that the incident at the stadium was a "political provocation".

"For me, the central question is how the European Union and UEFA will react, because if someone from Serbia had unfurled the flag of "Greater Serbia" in Tirana or Pristina, it would already be on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council," said Dacic.

AP conveyed the Albanian Prime Minister's congratulations to the national team members for their courage and regret "because of the neighbors who left a bad impression".

The American agency noted that both Serbian and Albanian fans are known for their violence and recalled that four years ago the match between Italy and Serbia in Genoa was interrupted due to rampaging Serbian fans.

The BBC reported that the game was abandoned after a drone carrying a "political message" sparked clashes involving players and fans.

"Political tensions overshadowed the game," said the American daily "USA Today", stating that yesterday the Albanian national team played in Belgrade for the first time since 1967.

The French newspaper "Paris", in a report with the subtitle "Great Albania" against "Great Serbia", assesses that the match was very tense even before the incident and that Serbia, the organizer of the match, risks suspension and loss of the match.

The Washington Post also noted that even before the drone incident, the atmosphere in the stadium was "heated."

"Serbian fans burned the NATO flag. The police already clashed with the fans. Nationalist songs blared through the stadium. Chaos was further ignited by an unmanned aerial vehicle," the American newspaper describes in the report. On the flag, which was towed by a remote-controlled aircraft, in addition to a map of the territory that includes Albania, Kosovo and Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and the north of Greece, there were also pictures of the Albanian nationalist leaders Ismail Ćemalji and Isa Boljetini. The media report, referring to the Belgrade media, that the Serbian police detained the brother of the Albanian prime minister, Oljsi Rama, on suspicion of having piloted the aircraft. The television station "Raša tudej" (RT) reported that the match was interrupted because a drone with the flag of Greater Albania was released into the stadium, for which the brother of the Albanian prime minister is suspected. RT points out that the Serbian authorities consider this a "political provocation" and reports Dacic's words that the incident was planned in advance. The British newspaper "Independent" assessed that the European Football Union (UEFA) is partially responsible for the incident at the European Championship qualification match between Serbia and Albania, provoked by the release of a drone with the flag of Great Albania. The British newspaper points out that UEFA, despite knowing about the existence of political tensions between Serbia and Albania, put these two countries in the same qualification group.

"UEFA banned Albanian fans from attending the match, and previously allowed Serbia and Albania to be in the same qualifying group, despite the long-standing political tensions between these two countries. Serbs and Albanians are two entities participating in the dispute over Kosovo," he recalls. "Independent". Due to political tensions, UEFA separated Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Spain and Gibraltar, while Russia and Georgia were allowed to be in the same group, ahead of the determination of the qualifying groups for the European Championship 2016.

Pristina media: The match in Belgrade was "more than a game"

The print media in Pristina published articles on the front pages today about the interruption of the football match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade, with the assessment that the match was "more than a game". In addition to the photos of the drone carrying the flag with the figures of Ismail Ćamajli, who proclaimed the independence of Albania in 1912, and his comrade-in-arms from Kosovo, Isa Boljetini, on the front pages there are also those showing the crowd on the field and "how representatives of Albania defend the flag of Albania". Dnevnik Koh ditore writes that the tension interrupted the historic match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade, and assesses that the Albanian national team in Belgrade had "raised foreheads". The text states that the much-talked-about match was stopped in the 42nd minute with the score 0:0, that the Albanians were in control of the game at that moment, and that one red-black flag, which was suddenly raised with the help of an unmanned aerial vehicle appeared over the stadium, fueled anti-Albanian reaction by Serbian fans and tensions among players.

Zeri under the title "Greater Albania" writes that she showed herself during the 41 minutes on the field, but that even bigger was the drone that carried the flag with the map of Great Albania and the inscription "autochthon", which flew above 25.000 Serbian spectators. According to the newspaper, Ismail Ćemajli and Isa Boljetini also flew on it, and Andi Lila and Taulant Žaka also played their role when they physically clashed with Serbs while protecting Albanian symbols. Dnevnik Tribuna, in a text dedicated to last night's event at the Partizan stadium in Belgrade, writes that during the match all entrances to the stadium were closed, but that they "forgot that the eagles come from the sky", with the conclusion that the official result is expected to be 3:0 for Albania. On the front page of the spot newspaper Arena, in an article entitled "Serbs got shame, and Albania got a flag" published the statements of the Albanian national team members, among them Erdita Berisha who says "we have the best fans in the world".

"We will do everything for them and we will continue to give our maximum in every game," said Berisha. The newspaper reports that the captain of the Albanian national team Ljorik Cana said that "when he saw that the fans attacked Baljaj with a chair, he didn't think about anything anymore and that he helped them not to hit him". The media also write that tens of thousands of citizens watched the match all over Kosovo, who celebrated in the streets after the break. The media paid a lot of attention to the "Serbian hooligan" Ivan Bogdanov, who set fire to the Albanian flag in Italy in Genoa during the Italy-Serbia match and who is said to have been seen at the stadium during the match in an attempt to attack the Albanian players, but was stopped by security at stadium. The Pristina press also reports the statement of the captain of the Serbian national team, Branislav Ivanovic, that there were no problems between the players and that he regrets what happened in last night's game. The captain of the Albanian national team, Can, also had words of thanks for Ivanović and Matić, who said that he said goodbye to his teammate Đorđević and that Ivanović and Matić helped them when they were attacked. "I talked to Ivanovic in the dressing room and he said that this is just football and that we should understand it that way, but I told him that we cannot continue the game because five Albanian players were injured in the face and body. There were also suggestions to empty the stadium, but the Albanian players were neither physically nor mentally able to continue the game," Cana said, as reported by the media in Pristina. The whole picture is completed by the reports about this morning's welcome of the Albanian national team members at the Rinasi airport in Tirana, where there were thousands of people. For now, Kosovo politicians are not commenting on the incident at the Serbia-Albania match.