Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi could face punishment for his celebration after scoring in Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Cardiff.
The German defender, born in Germany to an Albanian family from Macedonia, celebrated his 11th-minute goal by locking his open hands together at the thumbs and ‘flapping’ his fingers.
Xhaka's corner finds Mustafi in the box, who gives Arsenal the lead with a powerful header. 1-0 pic.twitter.com/zb636r5uHV
— Terje (@TerjeGIFs) September 2, 2018
The gesture resembles –is understood to be a reference to, the double-headed eagle on Albania’s national flag.
Mustafi made the gesture towards assister Granit Xhaka, another Arsenal player with Kosovar-Albanian heritage. Under the Football Association’s regulations concerning political statements in the game, Mustafi could now face punishment if his celebration is deemed to have been a display of political symbolism.
Earlier this summer both Switzerland’s Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri were fined for their controversial goal celebrations against Serbia in the World Cup.
An investigation was launched by Fifa after the two Swiss players – both ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, appeared to make a gesture that mirrored the ‘double-headed eagle’ of Albania’s flag.
Tensions remain high between ethnic Albanians and nationalist Serbs in Kosovo. Kosovo’s Albanian-majority political institutions declared independence in 2008 but, a decade on, the territory is still not recognised by Serbia.