Gareth Southgate vowed to keep fighting racism as the England manager praised the “incredibly mature” way his players handled yet another night of shameful abuse.
After players were subjected to racism in European Championship qualifiers against Montenegro and Bulgaria in 2019, the Three Lions’ first away match in front of fans since the Covid-19 pandemic began was marred by more.
FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Hungary after monkey chants were aimed at goalscorer Raheem Sterling and unused substitute Jude Bellingham in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier in Budapest.
“We speak about it all the time,” the England defender said.
“It’s something we don’t want to speak about but it’s happening and I think with the way the boys deal with these situations, the way this team deals with these situations, because we’re such a close-knit group, it’s something where once it happens to one person, it happens to us all.
“We’ll carry on doing what we’re doing, we’ll carry on trying to take a stance and, as the manager has just said there, in terms of not just in football but in society. We want to try to help, and help change.
“I think it’s important we all stick together, which is something we’ll always do and the two boys, they are absolutely fantastic people but we’re a team that will always get around them as much as we possibly can.”
