England players receive racist abuse following Italy defeat

LONDON: Black players in the England soccer team have been subjected to a storm of online racist abuse after their defeat in the final of Euro 2020, drawing wide condemnation from the squad's manager Gareth Southgate along with royalty and politicians.

Marcus Rashford, 23, Jadon Sancho, 21, and Bukayo Saka, 19, were the targets of the abuse after they missed spot-kicks in a penalty shootout.

The artwork present on the streets of Manchester has been defaced in the wake of the striker missing the penalty. Garbage bags have been placed alongside the mural and the unruly supporters have also covered the artwork with some graffiti.

The Rashford mural was created by street artist Akse in partnership with the community project Withington Walls.

Edward Wellard, Stations Project Management and Works Package Manager in Manchester, condemned this act and said that these types of acts are despicable.

"I've come out to fix what I could immediately and cover-up what I couldn't and hopefully we will get the artist out to come and fix it," Goal.com quoted Wellard as saying.

"We dared to dream yesterday and our hopes were dashed but to wake up to this is more depressing. Racism seems to be more and more prevalent," he added.

The racist comments have prompted a police investigation and wide condemnation, although critics accused some ministers of hypocrisy for refusing to support a high-profile anti-racist stance the players had made during the tournament.

"For some of them to be abused is unforgivable," Southgate told a news conference.

"Some of it has come from abroad, we have been told this, but some of it is from this country." Agencies

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