"In 1999, nato bombed Yugoslavia, Stojkovic was angrily denounced, and as a result, he was banned by whales; Mihajlovic roared to the sidelines after scoring a goal, opened a T-shirt printed with a bullseye to protest, and was banned by Lazio; Mijatović took off his shirt to celebrate after Real Madrid scored, and the T-shirt with the slogan of solidarity for the motherland was also banned..."
Is this true?
On March 24, 1999, the US-led NATO began a military strike against the sovereign Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council.
Due to the bombing, the scheduled European Championship qualifiers for Yugoslavia and Croatia were cancelled, and the Yugoslav players had to consider retreating, but most of their parents were reluctant to leave their homes.
Mijatovic's parents, who played for Real Madrid and scored their only goal in the 1998 Champions League final, advised their son: "Take Luca (Mijatović's son) with you, you are gone, we are at ease." The president of the Yugoslav Football Association, Milianic, organized the evacuation of the national team members, and the Yugoslav "father of football" chose the highway to Hungary and ordered all the players to cross this escape route to budapest to meet.
Mijatović and his son arrived first, followed by Djukic (Valencia), Jugović (Atletico Madrid), Baoovic (Mallorca), and Nagy (Oviedo).
"I really want to go back to Belgrade, I should be with my parents." Mijatović told Jose on the phone, "The electricity supply in Belgrade has been cut off, the airport has been closed, and both parents have taken refuge in the basement." Luca asked me, 'Dad, why don't we fly?' I don't know how to answer him, I don't want to cast the shadow of war on the child's mind. I remember my father saying when I broke up, 'You go, you have to tell people that we Yugoslavs don't deserve to be punished like this.' I've had many experiences in my life, but this one was the most memorable. ”
After 38 hours of escape, both Mijatović and his teammates arrived in Spain.
Mijatović decided that "NATO will not stop bombing, will never participate in the race" and that "now we must do something for our compatriots who have been devastated by artillery fire." The declaration of our 3 captains represents only one of our intentions and is not of a coercive nature, and he has the right to choose which player thinks he should participate in the game or can participate in the game. I myself was worried about my parents in Belgrade in this situation, and I couldn't play well. ”
On March 28, 1999, Mijatović, together with Najibji, Savo Milosevic and other Spanish athletes, came to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to protest the war policy pursued by the United States.
Mitjatović, who was wearing the flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said: "When Yugoslavia fought against the Turkish invaders in 1389, the United States did not exist at all. NATO's air strikes on our country are a disgrace to the world, and we will fight with our football association for peace in our homeland. ”
The first to protest on the pitch was Stojkovic, who played for Nagoya in Japan's J-League, with a T-shirt with protest text written under his uniform, and Urawa Red Diamonds' Yugoslav foreign assistant Petrović also took off his shirt after scoring another goal, showing a T-shirt with "AMERICA NATO KILLERS" (front) and "KOSOVO YUGOSLAVIA NATO" (behind).
At that time, Chinese media labeled Petrovich's action under the title of "Receiving a Red Card at All Costs Petrovich Protests NATO Air Strikes", but in fact he only received a yellow card, and he was sent off for accumulating two yellow cards for another foul later.
"In 1999 NATO bombed Yugoslavia, Stojkovic angrily denounced it, and as a result was banned by Whale Eight", is this true? The J-League did follow this round, and Saburo Kawabuchi, a Japanese professional league, issued a written notice to his 26 clubs on the 30th: it is forbidden to act with any political overtones on the stadium.
Stojkovich said that as long as NATO does not stop air strikes, our protests will continue.
Stojkovic went on to play on April 3, but he was injured during the match and missed the April 17 match, but returned on April 24.
The real moveout was made by yugoslav players who played in La Liga.
Mijatovic's first match after his return to Spain was the league on 4 April, and he did not play, and the other La Liga Yugoslav players who participated in the strike were Jokanovic in Tenerife and Stanovic of Real Mallorca.
In Italy, Mihajlovic and Stankovic, who play for Lazio, also said they would participate in the strike. Then-Lazio boss Clargnotti expressed his understanding of his players and told Eriksen to prepare himself for a match against AC Milan in the absence of the two. However, that game Miha finally played the whole game, the so-called "Mihajlovic scored and roared to the side, opened the T-shirt printed with a bullseye to protest, and was banned by Lazio" did not happen, because Miha's next goal would not be achieved until May 2 against Udinese.
23 years later, Mikhailovic, who is now the manager of Bologna, burst into tears at his pre-match press conference, "I am convinced that war cannot and should not be the only way to solve the problem. I remember when I won the Champions League with Red Star Belgrade and the war was taking place in my country. ”
"When my country was bombed, Lazio and I won the Serie A title. At that time, I wanted my training sessions to last 24 hours and my games to last all day, because only then would I not think about the war, the bombing. ”
"Only when I'm playing, training, despite the war, I'm happy. When those moments are over, it becomes a mess. I remember I didn't hear from my parents for two weeks, not knowing if they were alive or dead. ”
"On TV, I would see planes take off from a U.N. base in Italy, and I would call my mom and tell her to hide underground."
"After a month, we probably don't have to talk about war anymore, it shouldn't be, because people are used to it and don't care about whether there's war far away," he said. ”
"That's why we all have to contribute to peace and work to bring this to a halt as soon as possible." It's more important than all of us..."
Have these players been banned from their clubs for the strike?
Not really. Mijatovic returned in the following round and attended the remaining 10 league rounds before leaving Real Madrid for Fiorentina at the end of the season. Was it because the strike was followed by the kick-off team? Mijatovic scored five goals in the league that season, and it's hard to argue that leaving the team wasn't a competitive reason to consider.