Monkey cries echoed in the Sofia stadium on Monday (October 14th) during the Euro-2020 playoff match between Bulgaria and England. The meeting was almost interrupted by the referee.

In a match England dominated by crushing their opponent 0-6, the three black "Three Lions", Tyrone Mings in defense, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling in attack, were the target screams of monkey.

In accordance with the UEFA protocol, the referee had an announcement made by the stadium announcer asking the responsible supporters to stop at half an hour before having a long discussion with the officials but also the English teams. and Bulgarian at the end of regulation time of the first period. The decision was finally taken to play the six minutes of additional time until the break, during which Bulgarian captain Ivelin Popov went to talk with supporters.

"I have to say that the officials were very responsive, we immediately told them what we heard, we were in constant communication with the official at the side of the field and the referees," said coach Gareth Southgate after the match, while still qualifying the incidents of "unacceptable situation".

"We gave a nice answer"

The Vassil-Levski Stadium in which the match is taking place was already sanctioned by UEFA since a 5,000-seat stand was closed following racist incidents during the match against Kosovo in June.

Before the match, several players in the English team had been talking in the locker room about the attitude to adopt in case of racist insults, some, like Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham pleading for a departure from the lawn , although it was not foreseen in the UEFA protocol.

On the field, the English players finally reacted in the most beautiful way. "We have given a good response, shown great solidarity, and in the end we have given the floor to football." I hope that the highest authorities will take care of these incidents because we could not do much with more on the pitch, "said defender Tyrone Mings, one of the targets of racist songs.

The British Football Federation (FA) announced Monday night that it would ask UEFA to investigate these racist cries. "We can confirm that English players have been the target of horrible racist songs during the Euro-2020 qualifier against Bulgaria, which is unacceptable at any level of competition," wrote the FA in its official report. communicated. "We will ask UEFA an urgent inquiry" on these facts, continues the Federation which emphasizes being "sadly aware that this is not the first time that [his] players are targeted by this type of insults". During the game in Montenegro already, English players had been the target of cries of monkeys.

Despite this success, England is not yet mathematically qualified for the Euro because of the victory of Kosovo against Montenegro (2-0). He misses only one point to take against Montenegro at home or in Kosovo to validate his ticket.

With AFP and Reuters