Monday night was the best performance by an England football team for a generation, a display of unprecedented intelligence, bravery, ruthlessness and teamwork to dismantle one of the best teams in the world. And yet to spend time with some of the fans following England was to have any sense of pride coloured by shame.

What leaves the deepest mark is not the low-level bad behaviour, the littering, the vandalism or the noise. It is the tragic attempts of a new cohort of fans to redraw the English football nation on narrow religious and racial grounds.

That is the clear implication of how so many of the England travelling fans speak and sing about the national team. Not all of them, of course. It was notable how much better England fans behaved at the World Cup in Russia, when there were fewer of them, but they were the regular home-and-away England contingent. More interested in loyally following the team than in causing trouble.

Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Show all 22 1 /22 Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Marcus Rashford - 8/10 Rashford took his goal really nicely and played a gorgeous pass for England’s opener, but it is for his workrate that he earns high marks. His pace really worries teams and there was a sense tonight that he was a little more comfortable tucked inside rather than on the wide extremes. Tireless and diligent in his defensive work, Rashford never seemed to stop running and battling. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Harry Kane - 8/10 He would have loved a goal but this was a magnificent performance from Kane. Dominated the Spanish defence with his physicality, Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Raheem Sterling - 7/10 Two very welcome goals to break his drought. The first was an excellent finish. Sterling was busy and a menace in behind that Spain struggled to deal with. AP Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Ross Barkley - 7/10 Accomplished performance. Similarly to Winks showed his defensive steel and always looked forward when on the ball. Delectable clipped ball to Kane for Sterling’s second. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Eric Dier - 7/10 Much-maligned in an England shirt, this was a good performance from Dier. His early clattering of Sergio Ramos was a bit of a tone-setter and seemed to almost lift England. Stout at the heart of midfield. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Harry Winks - 6/10 Winks was very quiet, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. A player more for the game where England are dominant in possession, but his positional sense and discipline was strong throughout. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Ben Chilwell - 6/10 A few nervy moments, but generally solid. Spain certainly didn’t exploit him at any point, and Chilwell stuck to his task well, blocking several attempted crosses. Kept going through the 90 minutes. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Harry Maguire - 8/10 A few nervy moments, but generally solid. Spain certainly didn’t exploit him at any point, and Chilwell stuck to his task well, blocking several attempted crosses. Kept going through the 90 minutes. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Joe Gomez - 7/10 Untroubled and unperturbed throughout the game. Gomez used the ball well and did all his defensive work effectively. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Kieran Trippier - 7/10 The Tottenham full-back ran himself virtually into the ground before being replaced. Asensio got no joy against Trippier. An impressive defensive performance, even if he had little chance to get forward. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Jordan Pickford - 6/10 His well-directed long balls were influential in both the first and second goals. Very, very fortunate not to concede a penalty for his pulling back of Rodrigo after messing about in his own area. Tidy generally, and similarly to De Gea had very little to do saves-wise. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Marco Asensio - 5/10 Asensio was probably Spain’s most disappointing player, his largely excellent set-pieces aside. He earns a slight rating jump for that, but otherwise was wasteful and lacked drive. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Rodrigo - 5/10 Rodrigo should have had a penalty, but otherwise a quiet game. Maguire and Gomez handled him rather easily. AFP/Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Iago Aspas - 5/10 Aspas was relatively lively, but didn’t look a natural fit on the right wing. Substituted for the more impressive Paco Alcacer. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Saul - 5/10 Kept possession well, but similarly to his midfield cohorts Saul did little to influence outside of the middle of the park. Replaced by Dani Ceballos as Spain chased an unlikely comeback, and Ceballos looked to provide more. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Sergio Busquets - 6/10 As ever the tall midfield pivot was very accomplished in possession, but little else from Busquets. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Thiago - 6/10 Plenty of flashy touches and some lovely bits and pieces from Thiago, but the midfielder failed to produce the incisive pass Spain need to break down England’s well-structured defence. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Marcos Alonso - 5/10 Raheem Sterling had plenty of joy down the forward-minded full-back’s channel and looked a threat in behind every time England had the ball at times. Alonso did offer a useful outlet going forward, but the ability in the final third typical of the Chelsea man’s game was not apparent. AFP/Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Sergio Ramos - 6/10 Failed to effectively organise the Spanish defence’s high line, and Kane bullied both he and Nacho aerially at times. Ramos kept fighting until the death, however, and deserves kudos for lifting his side in the second half. He took his consolation goal well. Getty Images Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Nacho - 5/10 Harry Kane made Nacho’s life difficult throughout and the Real Madrid defender was part of a disjointed defence exploited badly by England for the three goals. Action Images via Reuters Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings Jonny - 5/10 Jonny struggled with Marcus Rashford’s pace relatively frequently during the game. He was probably the weakest Spanish player on the ball and provided little of quality when pressing forward. PA Spain vs England – Nations League player ratings David De Gea - 6/10 No saves from the Manchester United goalkeeper on the night as England scored from each of their shots on target. De Gea could do little about the goals, but did give the ball away carelessly a couple of times early on. Nothing of real note, however. AP

But when England play in Europe, the atmosphere changes. There are thousands of fans who treat these games as their chance to stage their own little invasion of Europe, playing out their D-Day fantasies. Annex a corner of a foreign town. Flags up. 10 pints. Hope that someone objects to their objectionable behaviour, just to provide the pretext for their own reaction and escalation. That was the story in Seville late on Sunday night, just as it was in Amsterdam, Dortmund, or across France in Euro 2016.

Among the flags attached on Monday afternoon to the O’Neill’s pub, next to Seville’s historic bullring, one stood out. An orange flag that had a Blackpool FC badge, a Three Lions crest, and at its centre the letters ‘FLA’, the logo of the ‘Football Lads Alliance’. The FLA is an Islamophobic group whose selling point is that whatever differences may exist between the fans of rival football clubs, they can all come together to demonise Muslims.

“By calling themselves the ‘Football Lads Alliance’ they have tried to legitimise their hatred and prejudice, because people think it’s about football,” says Qari Asim, chair of the Mosques & Imams National Advisory Board. “But the rhetoric that comes out of them, and their visible attacks on ethnic minorities, is quite staggering. There is no doubt about the fact they are Islamophobic. They distort Islam and exploit national political issues by perpetuating fear and a sense that Sharia is going to take over the country.”

For that FLA flag to fly among a big group of England fans in Seville, and for nothing to be done about it, says a lot about the unwillingness of fans to self-police these issues. And how relaxed many that follow England are about incubating racism and discrimination amongst themselves.

Just as shaming in Seville on Monday afternoon was the number of England fans who decided that they wanted to define themselves as being against the Irish, and against Roman Catholics. Shouts of “No surrender” between the third and fourth lines of the national anthem have become depressingly frequent at England games. They are just as loud as the rest of the anthem, undermining the claim that sectarianism is only the preserve of a “tiny minority” of the England travelling support.

The scenes in Seville were the same as Amsterdam, Dortmund and France (Getty)

There is an obsession with Northern Ireland and The Troubles, as shown by the widespread chanting of “F*** the IRA”. What stands out is that those singing are not veterans of the 1980s and 1990s, whose formative years were when this was the dominant issue in British national life. These are English youngsters, born around the time of the Good Friday Agreement, growing up in a time when Northern Ireland was fading away as an issue. And at the time of their lives when they choose who they identify with, and who they identify against, this is what they have chosen.

That explains the worst of all England songs heard in Seville this week, in the bars on Sunday night, and on the walk to the ground on Monday evening. It is made up of three words: “F*** the Pope”. As if we have dredged up the logic of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and decided that this is how we must organise ourselves now. Draw a line in the sand: English on this side, Catholics on the other.

Consider that for as long as you need to and then think what it implies for Britain’s other ethnic minority communities. If enough travelling England fans are happy to pull up the drawbridge, and make clear that they see Muslims and Catholics as being on the other side of the moat, then what of the other communities whose families have moved to Britain over the last century?

There is a sad irony here which is that part of World Cup success was the triumph of the diversity of the England team, and the genuinely unifying effect their run to the semi-finals had on all parts of the country at home. In a country that is increasingly fractious, each part estranged from the other, Gareth Southgate’s team did more to bring people together than any other cultural force of recent years.

And yet of all the different groups and voices shouting at home, when England play away, just one voice is heard over all the others. That voice is white, male, aggressive, and desperate to be challenged just so it can take offence. It is the unavoidable undertone of every English trip abroad.

A section of England fans continue to disgrace the nation on away trips (PA)

The easy, lazy option is to argue that the vandals and racists are not “true England fans” – whatever that means – and that they do not represent the rest of the country. That if the Football Association and the police could just pluck out the few bad apples then the rest of the barrel would be clean. Another more convincing theory is that you could ban every fan who was here in Seville and the make-up and behaviour of the next England away contingent would not be very different.