Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin was part of the Romania team that saw Kosovo players walk off the field during their Nations League match on Friday due to alleged offensive chanting.
The Kosovo team refused to continue playing in the 93rd-minute after Romanian fans allegedly chanted pro-Serbian slogans, a country that does not recognise Kosovo's independence. UEFA has yet to clarify why the game was cut short, but it is believed that the Kosovo players were deeply upset by the chants.
The match was eventually abandoned an hour after it was stopped with the score at 0-0, leaving the Romanian players - including Spurs star Dragusin - on the pitch in freezing temperatures. Meanwhile, the Kosovo players ordered pizza into their dressing room after walking off, with riot police separating them from the stands.
Their manager, Franco Foda, said: "Unfortunately, at the end of the match, respect was lost. And that's why we decided to leave the field.
"Then we talked to the players and everyone else. But the problem is that the situation in the stadium didn't change then we all decided not to go back to the field and not to continue the match.
"I'm sorry for that, as the team played a great game tonight. But everyone should respect the fact that we are Kosovo in the future to take appropriate steps so that what happened tonight does not happen again."
The Kosovo team continued their protest even when given a five-minute ultimatum to return to the pitch or face the game being called off.
It meant controversy struck again in a match between Kosovo and Romania, echoing past tensions. A Euro 2024 qualifier back in September 2023 was halted due to Romanian fans chanting "Kosovo is Serbia", reports the Mirror.
Although the Kosovo team returned to the pitch on that occasion, suffering a 2-0 defeat, this time they refused to continue the game. Kosovo captain Amir Rrahmani expressed his frustration after full-time.
He claimed: "There were constant calls 'Serbia, Kosovo'. This happened for 90 minutes. In the extra minutes, the calls started with other words that I don't want to repeat because it's a shame.
"I told the ref for the first time to listen to them. He did nothing. The second time he didn't want to listen. After the third time I told him we are going out because this is so wrong.
"They have been aware because our Federation has made it clear to them to try to avoid this. The fans started even more after that with chants of 'Kosova, Serbia'.
"That's why we decided not to go out again as happened last year. UEFA must decide because we are footballers, we are here to represent our people, our country, which has a difficult past."