Nationalist politics fuels soccer crowd race abuse return, warns UEFA boss

Last week, days after Turkey's troops entered Northern Syria, Cenk Tosun scored a late winner in Turkey's game with Albania and celebrated with team-mates by delivering a salute. Later, he posted an Instagram message: "For our nation, especially for the ones who are risking their lives for our nation."

The Turkish Football Federation then posted an image of the whole team and training staff making the same gesture, captioned "We give this win to all our hero soldiers." UEFA forbids political gestures but the celebration was repeated in Monday's draw against France.

Tosun was born in Germany and represented the country at junior level before switching his allegiance.

His post was liked by two German international players of Turkish descent, Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City and Emre Can of Juventus, who both later deleted the likes.

Last year Tosun, Gundogan and Arsenal's Mesut Ozil, another German international of Turkish parentage, were photographed with Turkey's President Recep Erdogan during his visit to the United Kingdom.

Gundogan gave him a shirt signed "To my president, with my respects", which drew criticism from Reinhard Grindel, head of the German Football Federation, or DFB, who said "the DFB stands for values that Mr Erdogan does not sufficiently respect."

Gundogan explained his change of heart over Tosun's photo by saying "After what happened last year, the last thing I wanted was to make a political statement."

Elsewhere, Turkish player Cenk Sahin has been released by German league side FC St Pauli for an Instagram post celebrating Turkey's actions in Syria, and "his repeated disregard for the club's values".