Violence and racism mars Euro final match

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said he was appalled at racial abuse targeting England's football stars, after they lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy on a penalty shoot-out. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, the three players who missed England's penalties on Sunday, were the victims of a stream of abuse on Twitter and Instagram. "This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media," Johnson wrote on Twitter. "Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves."

The English supporters, who could not digest the loss, saw them unnecessarily attack the Italian fans. They not just hit their Italian counterparts but then there was a lot of racial abuse and stomping of the Italian national flag as well.While some people identifying as England fans used racial slurs in blaming the trio for the defeat, other offensive messages were accompanied with "forza italia" hashtags. England's players have made a strong stand against racism at the tournament, taking a knee before their games including Sunday's final. London's police force tweeted that they were aware of "a number of offensive and racist social media comments" being directed towards the footballers. "This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated," the police said.

Despite the abuse, the overwhelming majority of messages were in support of the players, who have been praised throughout the tournament for helping bring together a nation hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the thrilling finale was overshadowed by scenes of violent disorder ahead of the historic game in London and racist abuse on social media against some England players following the team's defeat. London's Metropolitan Police said it made 49 arrests, and that 19 officers were injured while managing the final. The English FA said it was "appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players".