The Austrian national soccer player Marko Arnautovic is threatened with a ban after his insulting goal celebration in the European Championship game against North Macedonia.

UEFA announced on Tuesday that it had initiated ethics and disciplinary proceedings against the 32-year-old - Arnautovic could be absent from the top Group C game on Thursday in the Netherlands.

The striker is accused of insulting North Macedonian player Ezgjan Alioski after scoring the 3-1 final score during Sunday's game, including making racist remarks.

The Association of North Macedonia announced on Facebook on Monday evening that it had sent a letter of complaint to UEFA calling for “the severest punishment for the Austrian international”.

Immediately after the goal on Sunday you could see how David Alaba, the Austrian captain, tried to keep Arnautovic's mouth shut while cheering.

The striker had then clearly rejected the criticism of his behavior.

“I am not a racist and I will never be one,” Arnautovic emphasized on Monday in the team quarters in Seefeld, Austria.

"I would like to apologize"

On Instagram, the former Bremer added: "There were a few heated words in the emotion of the game yesterday for which I would like to apologize - especially to my friends in North Macedonia and Albania." The North Macedonian Alioski had said after the game that Arnautovic had apologized to him immediately after the game.

This was also confirmed by a spokeswoman for the Austrian association on Tuesday.

Both players would have spoken out on the pitch and later in the dressing room.

The association is now expecting to issue an opinion.

"This is a completely normal process," said ÖFB General Secretary Thomas Hollerer of the APA news agency.

Immediately after the game, UEFA had not started an investigation.

Racist statements would be severely punished by UEFA, and in the worst case scenario, the EM could be over for Arnautovic.

Even a suspension for the Netherlands game would be bitter for him, as he used to play in the honor division for Twente Enschede.

The North Macedonians wrote on Monday that they are always "against nationalism, discrimination and all other forms of insults and outbursts that are not in the spirit of football and the values ​​we all stand for".

You will always stand up and defend the interests and dignity of the North Macedonian internationals wherever they appear.

For the Austrians, the failure of Arnautovic would be a significant weakening. Although he does not know exactly what the initiation of proceedings by UEFA would mean exactly. “But of course that would be an extremely bitter loss. We hope for the best, we would miss him a lot, ”said Austria's defense chief Martin Hinteregger on Tuesday in an online media round at the training camp in Seefeld.

The defender of Eintracht Frankfurt did not want to overestimate the incident overall. “We discuss internally what's going on. But if that were to take a toll on us, something would take us away every day, ”said Hinteregger. “In 90 minutes, completely different verbal things happen on the square. I am not a child of sadness either. That's how it should be. After 90 minutes you shake hands and everything is fine. ”Leipzig's Marcel Sabitzer held back with a classification. “I don't want to comment on that. But of course it would be a big loss if he couldn't play, ”said Sabitzer.