Soccer-Montenegrin FA blasts fans after Euro qualifier abandoned

PODGORICA, March 28 (Reuters) - Montenegrin soccer fans who keep causing trouble and forced Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier against Russia to be abandoned are hypocrites and barbarians, the general secretary of the Adriatic republic's football association said. The Group G match ended midway through the second half after two outbursts of violence, the first 25 seconds after kick off when a home fan hit Russia keeper Igor Akinfeev with a flare in the head. The match resumed after a 33-minute delay but following fighting between rival fans during halftime and another 18-minute delay for the second half to begin, more trouble erupted. German referee Deniz Aytekin called the game off in the 67th minute after Russian midfielder Dmitri Kombarov was hit with a missile from the terraces, following a scuffle between players on the touchline. "These fans sing 'Montenegro we love you' but throw flares, insult rivals and cause all sorts of incidents every time they turn up and that's outright hypocrisy," general secretary Momir Djurdjevac told reporters after the ugly scenes in the stadium. "We have left the impression of barbarians and this is a complete disaster. It seems we don't deserve to have a nation, a soccer team or a berth in a major tournament. "As far as I am concerned the game should not have continued after the first-minute incident. We can only thank God that no one was seriously hurt." Akinfeev was taken to hospital with a concussion and neck burns, undergoing a brain scan and a number of other tests. Montenegrin media also reported a charged atmosphere in Podgorica several hours before kick-off with riot police deployed in numbers to separate rival fans congregating in the city centre. UEFA said it would wait for reports from the match delegate and the referee before opening disciplinary proceedings and Djurdjevac acknowledged any punishment would be suitable. "We will in all likelihood pay a hefty fine and say goodbye to a major tournament but what scares me is that this can happen again and someone must step forward and say 'Enough'." "Who wants to play for the national team under such circumstances? "These players have a big dream and it's to qualify with our tiny nation for a major tournament but we are going nowhere." Montenegro, who have never qualified for a World Cup or a European Championship as an independent nation, are level with the Russians on five points from four games. Austria lead the group with 13 points from five games, followed by Sweden on nine from the same number of matches. (Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic in Belgrade; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)