England raced out to an impressive 4-0 lead at Bulgaria by halftime, but the wonderful attacking display was marred by horrendous incidents from the crowd.
The match in the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria was stopped on two occasions with announcements being made to ask sections of the crowd to stop their abusive language. This comes with the stadium already serving a partial stadium closure due to racist chanting from the crowd in previous qualifiers.
Below is UEFA’s protocol on how to intervene in these situations, and what transpired from lead writer Joe Prince-Wright.
Protocol for dealing with racist abuse being implemented at Bulgaria-England, with first step implemented pic.twitter.com/Jo6YJ8FhkV
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) October 14, 2019
Game paused again. England players and Gareth Southgate in discussion with the officials. A large group of Bulgaria fans are shown leaving their seats and heading up the stairs in the home section. Disgusting, depressing scenes in Sofia.
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) October 14, 2019