The Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku described as “unacceptable” the reaction of the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, after the interrupted football match between the national teams of the two countries on Friday in Bucharest, Agerpress agency reported.
The Nations League match was halted in stoppage time and later abandoned at 0-0 after Kosovo's players left the field upset by pro-Serbian chants from the stands.
Romania is one of the five EU member states that do not recognize Kosovo's independence.
„It is absolutely unacceptable what the Prime Minister of Kosovo is doing, mixing politics with sports and after the decision of his national football team to abandon the match with Romania, stating that he will apply political-diplomatic pressure to to punish us! He tries in vain to turn the culprit into a victim and - what is even worse - he wants to put political pressure on the European Football Forum, hoping for an illusory solution! I tell him directly and clearly that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot distort reality and that he is going the wrong way anyway, because politics has no place in sports,“ wrote Cholaku last night on Facebook.
According to him, neither the Romanian players nor the audience at the National Arena are to blame for what happened at the match on Friday night.
„I can admit that the Kosovo footballers played better, but that does not give them the right to the gesture at the end of the match, for which they have to suffer the consequences! And I'm sure that's exactly what will happen”, Marcel Cholaku added.