SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Serbia's football association is demanding a 3-0 victory in its Euro 2016 qualifier with Albania after the match was abandoned in the 41st minute with the game tied at 0-0.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, the FA said that it had "welcomed our guests from the Albanian FF in the best possible way" to Belgrade for the Tuesday night game, but, after scuffles broke out with players when a drone carrying a controversial Albanian flag was flown into the stadium and brought down, Albania refused to continue.

"We estimate that they are directly guilty for the match abandonment and we expect that UEFA disciplinary bodies will register the match with 3:0 result, in favor of Serbia," the statement said.

The FA added that Serbian player Stefan Mitrovic had managed to catch the flag and "started to fold it as calmly as possible" so the match could continue but "Albanian players acted very aggressively and physically attacked Mitrovic."

"The match was not finished in the usual way and therefore our national team players lost chance to show who was better and of more quality in a fair, sportsmanlike and chivalrous contest," it said.

It accused the Albanian team of refusing to play on, despite the match delegate making a decision it be continued.

"FA of Serbia and our representatives accepted that, but unfortunately not the people from the Albanian FF and their national team."

There is no mention in the statement of a fan that ran onto the pitch and hit an Albanian player with a chair, or the ones who attacked the Albanian players as they left the pitch under a hail of missiles.

A statement issued Wednesday from the Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs blames Serbia for provocations that led to the incident, saying at the beginning of the game fans "desecrated our national anthem and symbols."

"The crowd of thousand Serbian fans exploded in hate shouts and threatening screams, such as: ‘Kill the Albanians’," said Ditmir Bushati. "[And] That was not all, the Serbian fans located below the VIP gallery, where high Serbian and Albanian personalities were seated, repeated the same vulgar shouts and offensive gestures towards the Albanian guests."

It invited European Football's governing body UEFA to "undertake all the necessary steps for an impartial investigation and reporting in order to demonstrate that football remains a sport of friendship and civility."

UEFA has said that disciplinary proceedings will be opened against Serbia "for the setting off/throwing of fireworks and missiles, crowd disturbance, field invasion by supporters, and insufficient organization [of the game], and the use of a laser pointer."

Albania, meanwhile, will be charged with "refusing to play, and the display of an illicit banner."

Both cases will be dealt with October 23.

With the score goalless in the 41st minute of Tuesday night's game, defender Mitrovic had leapt to grab the flag -- emblazoned with a map of Greater Albania and the message "AUTOCHTHONOUS" -- leading to fighting between players and team officials from both sides.

The “Greater Albania” territory referred to includes Albania, Kosovo and some territories from Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, while autochthonous suggests that Albanians were autonomous in these territories, centuries before the Serbs are understood to have come to the Balkans.

In its statement, the Serbian FA said the flag was "non-existing so-called 'Great Albania' that as such offends feelings of all citizens of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece."

As Albanian players grabbed the flag from Mitrovic, supporters in the stands of Belgrade's Partizan Stadium erupted. Some ran onto the pitch, one throwing punches and attacking Albanian players with a plastic chair, while others started to brawl with riot police in the stands.

Away supporters were barred from the game -- the Albanian football team's first visit to the Serbian capital since 1967, which was played against a highly sensitive political backdrop given long-running tensions between the two countries over Kosovo.

The southeastern European state declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. It has a majority ethnic Albanian population.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is scheduled to visit Belgrade October 22, the first visit by an Albanian premier since 1946.

His brother - Olsi Rama - has denied that he was responsible for the drone that flew into the stadium, telling the Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that he was in the VIP seating taking pictures with friends when it arrived - not piloting it as Serbian media have claimed.

The second leg of the match is due to be played in the Albanian city of Elbasan on October 8, 2015.

www.aa.com.tr/en