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England manager Gareth Southgate was left disheartened after racial slurs were hurled at Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham during their World Cup Qualifier game against Hungary on Thursday.
Speaking after England's 4-0 away win over Hungary, the 51-year-old revealed that his side has reported the matter to UEFA. He stated:
“Everything is being reported to UEFA and we have to see what happens from there. They (the players) recognise the world is changing. Although some people are stuck in their way of thinking and prejudices, they are going to be the dinosaurs in the end because the world is modernising."
Southgate, however, did not lay the blame on all Hungarian fans for their behavior. This is primarily because English fans were also found guilty of racially abusing Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford after they missed their respective penalties against Italy at Euro 2020.
The manager explained:
“Tonight our anthem was really respected remarkably well, so it is not fair to criticise all of the Hungarian fans, a lot were generous and behaved themselves extremely well. It’s a very similar situation to the one we find at home, I think. The individuals found responsible need to be dealt with. I think there’s evidence people were filmed and we have got to hope that the authorities deal with that in the right way.”
“I don’t think our players can do anything more than have done over the past two or three years and in trying to get right messages out, make the right stand.
England dominated the game from start to finish
Despite a rough night, England were superior on the pitch as they beat Hungary on Thursday.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring in the 55th minute before Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice added three more goals. This commanding performance solidifies England's position at the top of their qualifying group with 12 points off three games.
Gareth Southgate was pleased with his side's performance despite not scoring in the first half. He said:
"From the start the players were excellent. They showed the humility I spoke about in approaching every day this week the right way. They know the standards they need to set. I was very pleased with the first half – even though we didn’t score we were in total control of the ball."
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