Arnautović’s controversy at Euro 2020 and the Austria star’s defense at the World Cup against accusations of racism
The Austrian national team returned to the World Cup after a 28-year hiatus and celebrated a 3-1 victory over Jordan in their debut. Marko Arnautović, recognized as the greatest scorer in the history of the national team, was the scorer of one of the goals in the clash.
The Austrian striker now has 48 goals in 134 appearances for his national team. At 37 years and 59 days, Arnautović also became the most experienced player to score for Austria in a World Cup, surpassing the mark of Toni Polster, who scored at the age of 34 years and 93 days in the 1998 World Cup, the country’s last participation until then.
With an extensive and successful career, Arnautović is currently part of the Red Star squad, having played for notable clubs such as West Ham and Inter Milan. In his two spells with the Italian team (2009-2010 and 2023-2025), he won two editions of Serie A, in addition to the Italian Cup, Italian Super Cup and Champions League titles.
Although this is his first participation in World Cups, the athlete was a fundamental player for the Austrian team in the 2016, 2020 (held in 2021) and 2024 European Championships. In the 2020 edition of the European tournament, Arnautović scored a goal in the opening match against North Macedonia, but his celebration generated a serious controversy, resulting in a suspension imposed by UEFA.
Arnautović’s controversial incident during Euro 2020
In the match that opened Austria’s Euro 2020 campaign, the team recorded a 3-1 victory over North Macedonia. However, striker Marko Arnautović, responsible for the third and final Austrian goal, caught the eye due to a very passionate celebration.
After finding the net in the 44th minute of the second half, the player had to be restrained by Austria’s captain, David Alaba, due to the intensity of his celebration and insults directed at opposing players of Albanian origin, including full-back Ezgjan Alioski. Furthermore, Arnautović made an “ok” gesture with his hands, bringing his index finger and thumb together, which was interpreted by some as a supremacist manifestation.
The situation was aggravated by the geopolitical history of the region, since Arnautović has Serbian ancestry and North Macedonia, like Serbia, was part of the former Yugoslavia. The tension between Serbia and Albania, which intensified after the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo War in the 1990s, makes any ethno-nationalist gesture deeply sensitive and charged with historical and political significance.
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On that occasion, UEFA handed Arnautović a one-game suspension for “offending another player”, but the entity’s Ethics and Disciplinary Committee did not consider the player’s act as racist in its sentence. The attacker himself used his social media to apologize for celebrating the goal and reinforce that he is not racist. He claimed to have uttered some “most heated” words, apologizing “especially to my friends from North Macedonia and Albania”, and emphasized defending diversity.
Ezgjan Alioski, the North Macedonia player who was the target of the insults, minimized the episode and confirmed that the Austrian striker apologized after the incident. Alioski reported that Arnautović went to the opposing locker room to apologize, and that they both talked about the incident, shook hands and made peace.
The initial phases of Arnautović’s career in football
At the beginning of his career, the player had great prominence in Dutch football for Twente, which led him to be signed by Inter Milan as a great promise. However, manager José Mourinho considered him immature, resulting in little participation in the historic Triple Crown season. Mourinho described Arnautović as a fantastic person, but with “childlike attitudes”, which caused some disagreements between the two.
Among the anecdotes of the time, it is said that the striker, wanting more minutes in Inter’s offensive sector, which had names like Ibrahimović, Adriano and Crespo, even told Mourinho: “Professor, I’m better than all of them”. Years later, with more maturity, the Austrian himself revealed a story in which he arrived late three times on the same day for appointments with the Italian team.
Arnautović continued his career at Werder Bremen, where he did not achieve much shine, but managed to demonstrate his qualities at Stoke City. At West Ham, he emerged as one of the team’s best players, before moving to China. He later returned to Europe to play for Bologna and, with good performances, secured his return to Inter Milan.
Commitment to Red Star in memory of Mihajlović
Marko Arnautović currently plays for Red Star in Serbia. The decision to transfer to the club was motivated by a promise made to Sinisa Mihajlović, his former coach and friend, who was a legend of the Serbian club and passed away in 2022.
During the period they worked together at Bologna, Arnautović and Mihajlović often talked about Red Star. At that time, the Austrian promised his coach that one day he would wear the club’s shirt. Excited, the attacker revealed that the fulfillment of this promise was one of the most memorable and emotionally charged moments of his personal and professional life.
Betting projection for Argentina x Austria
The best betting suggestion for the match between Argentina and Austria is for Lionel Messi to score at any time, with odds of @1.70. It is essential to be over 18 years old to participate in any gambling activity and to gamble responsibly.
