Jude Bellingham has spoken out about the racist abuses subjected at Sancho, Rashford and Saka. He recalled the incident which took place at the Euro final when the trio missed the penalty shootout.
“You look at the run into that final and you felt as though the country had united,” Jude Bellingham said, recalling the growing momentum around the national team at the time. “Then as soon as they missed a penalty, they were not English, just black. Anyone can miss a penalty. Anyone can make a mistake in their line of work. But to be criticised like that should never happen. They are human.
“They are all top, top characters. To see them brought down like that was disgusting. As a team-mate it’s hard to take because that could have been me. What if I’d missed a penalty? You’re English for seven games and then all of a sudden, you’re nothing.
“I know these are select idiots, of course, and it’s not the whole nation turning against them. I’m sure that they probably had a bigger comeback of support. But the only support they should need is for missing the penalty, not for the racism that they’ve received after it.”
“To be fair, Gareth Southgate was brilliant,” he added, when talking about his manager’s support..
“He has always brought it up as a topic in meetings when we are aware that we going to [a country with a history of racism]. We went to Hungary shortly after the Euros and the same thing happened again but we felt more prepared. We felt more supported because of what Gareth had put in place. As a Black player you feel very grateful for that.”
