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Monday evening's game between Bulgaria and England was always going to be a tumultuous affair. Precautions were put into place weeks before and yet things still almost went horribly wrong.
Racism had been anticipated from certain sectors of the Bulgarian crowd, and while many fans had hoped it was just media speculation, everyone's worse fears were soon realised as racist chants were heard early on, directed primarily at Tyrone Mings and Raheem Sterling.
There was general racist hollering aimed at any England players of colour but it was the most discernible when directed at Mings and Sterling.
The first stoppage of the match came in the 26th minute when the England players informed Southgate of tremendous booing from the Bulgarians whenever Sterling was in possession of the ball. The England manager relayed this information to the referee who halted the game to speak with the fourth official.
As per the guidelines put into place by UEFA, known as the three-step protocol, the first step is for the referee to signal for an announcement to be made over the tannoy to request that the fans cease all racist and offensive behaviour immediately. This is what happened in that moment after Southgate informed the referee, but judging by the reaction from the Bulgarian crowd, it was mostly disregarded and the chanting continued, but to a somewhat lesser extent.
Just before half-time, the second step of the protocol was initiated, which was followed by a five-minute stoppage that involved the players wandering aimlessly round the pitch, waiting for play to continue as the referee tried to placate a rightly indignant Southgate.
By this point, England were 4-0 up; it would have been in Bulgaria's interest for the game to be abandoned, which is what the third step would have caused.
Perhaps a rethink is needed by UEFA to change the abandonment consequence to one of forfeit, so there's an actual punishment to the side guilty of the abhorrent behaviour.
While the racist antics from the crowd mostly overshadowed the brilliant performance by England, we should still retain our focus on the positives that can be taken from the match, and there were plenty where Southgate's lads were concerned.
Six goals on the night is certainly nothing to scoff at, even if it is against Bulgaria. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring, followed by Ross Barkley (twice), Raheem Sterling (twice) and Harry Kane in the dying embers of the match. Overall, an excellent performance.
#3 Tyrone Mings and Harry Maguire form a formidable defensive partnership
Tyrone Mings was selected to replace Michael Keane in this game and he showed everybody what England had been missing at the back - robust defending. Undoubtedly, Keane is a good player on his day, but the Everton man had made several mistakes in the past few games which essentially forced Gareth Southgate's hand in finding a replacement, and Mings was the perfect fit.
The six-foot-six Aston Villa centre-back proved to be an integral part of England's impregnable defence this evening, keeping a cleansheet on his debut against a side that did have a few solid chances on goal, but were kept out by an all-around solid defensive unit.
Harry Maguire also had a strong 90 minutes alongside the debutant, forging a partnership that many fans at the ground were clearly impressed with, based on their applause and chanting whenever the pair passed the ball to one another at the back.
Ben Chilwell and Kieran Trippier were also very good in this game and did their jobs expertly, covering each flank well when defending and bursting forward with dynamism and speed when on the attack. There can be no complaints as far as the defence is concerned.
#2 Goals can come from anywhere with this squad, not just from the strikers
With many teams in world football nowadays, there are complaints from fans and pundits alike about managers focusing too much on the strikers' record in front of goal. But football, in terms of tactics, has moved on in recent years to incorporate more players in the attack, and a stunning display of that could be seen in tonight's game against Bulgaria.
Ross Barkley netted twice for the Three Lions despite his role as a central midfielder. You could see that he had been instructed to push forward and exploit the gaps in the Bulgarian defence, and he executed this plan perfectly. While the opposition defenders focused primarily on Harry Kane, players like Barkley and Sterling used the freed up space to apply pressure on their backline to great effect.
Barkley's two goals tonight equal his tally for Chelsea this season; if he can carry his form from tonight over to the Premier League this weekend, the Blues fans would be delighted!
Marcus Rashford occupied a forward role far out on the left flank, yet still found a way to score through a rocket shot on goal which tore through the goalkeeper's gloves. The Bulgarian goalkeeper stood no chance of stopping it and the England fans could tell that for themselves, judging by the celebrations that took place as soon as the ball left his foot.
Raheem Sterling was a thorn in the side of Bulgaria throughout the night and did very well to not let the racist chanting get the better of him during the game as he stayed focused and got the job done.
Harry Kane, however, could have perhaps done better earlier on in the game, but once he settled in the second half, he looked as if he was bound to score at some point, and, sure enough, he did - in the 85th minute.
It's basically expected that Kane will score in most matches now, but his link-up play with the rest of the team on the offensive was what made his performance a lot better, and it showed just how potent the Three Lions are across all positions.
#1 UEFA's Three-Step Protocol needs a rethink to prevent deliberate efforts to abandon the game
There were rumblings from certain sectors of the Bulgarian crowd even before the ball was kicked, but there was a definite spike in volume and animosity by the time England were two ahead.
It was clear that Bulgaria weren't going to get back into the match and their fans were more than aware of this fact, which is probably why they felt as if they had nothing to lose by disrupting the game.
The chanting and hollering was continuous throughout the first-half, despite two out of three warnings. The third would have forced the referee to abandon the match - but who does this punish? England, surely!
They would have to postpone the game and play at a later date, which is essentially a waste of everybody's time when you consider the gulf in quality between the two sides; there was only ever going to be one outcome as far as the result is concerned, so it would have been in Bulgaria's favour to have the game called off.
UEFA should instead consider a forfeit punishment as the third step. The team whose crowd persistently spout racist abuse should be penalised by the third step with an automatic loss, giving the other side (England in this case) a default 3-0 victory. It would be a powerful lesson for those who feel as if they have nothing to lose and certainly make them think twice before sabotaging their own side's result.
There is a lot of work to be done before this protocol is made perfect, of course, but I think we can all agree that it is heading in the right direction.
