England manager Gareth Southgate was left fuming when he heard Montenegro fans chanting monkey noises in the direction of Danny Rose.
“I know what I heard,” he said following England’s 5-1 comeback win in Podgorica.
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“I definitely heard abuse of Danny Rose when he got booked at the end of the game. There’s no doubt in my mind that happened and we’ll report it to Uefa. It’s not acceptable. We have to support our players.”
UEFA cannot just keep handing out small fines for racist abuse. UEFA’s punishments have to be stronger. First step: National teams whose ‘fans’ are found guilty of this disgusting behavior should have to play at least 12 months behind closed doors. And that is still too lenient.
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) March 25, 2019
Racism has continued to rear its ugly head just about everywhere this season, including at a Premier League ground when supporters from Chelsea were suspended for targeting Raheem Sterling.
Southgate said he had not spoken with Sterling or Callum Hudson-Odoi to see if either was targeted Monday in Montenegro, but Sterling grabbed his ears to the visiting fans after scoring late in a “monkey” gesture he’d later explain on Twitter.
Best way to silence the haters (and yeah I mean racists) 🙉😘 #2019 #getsomeeducation pic.twitter.com/ohhkOJtdey
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7) March 25, 2019