Euro 2020 qualifying group A
Bulgaria 0 England 6
England bounced back from their defeat to the Czech Republic by hitting Bulgaria for six last night.
However, the Euro 2020 qualifying fixture won’t be remembered for the Three Lions’s comfortable victory.
The match in Sofia was halted twice in the first-half because of shocking racist abuse directed towards England’s black players by sections of the Bulgarian crowd.
An announcement over the stadium tannoy warned fans about the chanting and there were even threats for the game to be abandoned.
England “stand tall” against the racists, the Daily Mirror’s front page says today, while i Sport reports that the Three Lions “face down the racists”.
It was “Sofia shame” says The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph and Metro choose “disgusting” and “despicable” as their one-word headlines respectively.
The Daily Mail’s back page headline simply says: “England 6 Racism 0”.
In a statement the English Football Association said: “We can confirm that England players were subjected to abhorrent racist chanting while playing in the Euro 2020 qualifier against Bulgaria.
“This is unacceptable at any level of the game and our immediate focus is supporting the players and staff involved.
“As we are sadly aware, this is not the first time our players have been subjected to this level of abuse and there is no place for this kind of behaviour in society, let alone in football. We will be asking Uefa to investigate as a matter of urgency.”
