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England's Euro 2020 thrashing of Bulgaria was stopped TWICE after vile racist chanting was directed at the Three Lions players on Monday night.

Gareth Southgate's side ran out 6-0 winners in the Bulgarian capital, with Raheem Sterling (2), Ross Barkley (2), Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford on target, as they bounced back from Friday's loss to the Czech Republic.

But the horrendous racist abuse aimed at England stars - notably Sterling and debutant Tyrone Mings - and the Nazi salutes from Bulgaria fans were appalling as the Vasil Levski Stadium turned into a cauldron of hate.

FA chairman Greg Clarke called it "one of the most appalling nights" he has ever seen in football, with the governing body asking UEFA to investigate as a matter of urgency.

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UEFA has a three-step protocol to tackle racism, and the first of these was triggered in the first half in Sofia after Mings and Sterling were subjected to abuse, including monkey noises.

Mings was heard telling an official: "Hey, did you hear that?" as the abuse started, prompting Gareth Southgate to inform an official who alerted referee Ivan Bebek.

The match was then paused as an announcement was made over the loud speaker demanding the racist chanting, monkey noises and Nazi salutes stop.

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A UEFA delegate said: "Because of racist behaviour which is interfering with the game, the referee has indicated he may have to suspend the match.

"Please be in no doubt that the game may be suspended and abandoned if racist behaviour continues."

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The second step of UEFA's protocol requires players of both teams to momentarily leave the pitch while another announcement is made.

This didn't happen on Monday, but the game was paused twice. The third and final step would have sees the game abandoned.

At half-time, wary of that, Bulgaria captain Ivelin Popov face off with home supporters, urging them to stop.

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England's Rashford would tweet afterwards: "Also been told what the Bulgaria captain (Ivelin Popov) did at half-time.

"To stand alone and do the right thing takes courage and acts like that shouldn't go unnoticed.”

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UEFA had previously ordered 5,000 seats at Sofia’s 46,340-capacity arena to be closed off at the match, after race offences at games against Kosovo and the Czech Republic.

In response to the racist chanting, The FA released the following statement: "We can confirm that England players were subjected to abhorrent racist chanting while playing in the EURO 2020 qualifier against Bulgaria.

"This is unacceptable at any level of the game and our immediate focus is supporting the players and staff involved.

"As we are sadly aware, this is not the first time our players have been subjected to this level of abuse and there is no place for this kind of behaviour in society, let alone in football.

"We will be asking UEFA to investigate as a matter of urgency."

(Image: Action Images via Reuters)

However, UEFA announced they wouldn't be releasing a statement on Monday night.

Speaking post-game, England boss Southgate said: “Nobody should have to experience what our players did. We followed the protocol.

"We gave two messages - one that our football did the talking and two, we stopped the game twice.

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“That might not be enough for some people but we are in that impossible situation that we can't give everyone what they want. It was an impossible situation.

"But we gave the players what they wanted and the staff what that they wanted. Remarkably, after what we have been through, our players walked off smiling and that's the most important thing for me.

"I am incredibly proud of my players.

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"I have to give credit because the referee communicated with us all the time. He was outstanding. It was so difficult. But he was incredible.

“You heard the stadium announcement on the first instance. In the second instance, we could have walked off but the players were very keen to finish the first half and talk it through.

"Not one player wanted to stop, they were absolutely firm on that.”

ITV Sport pundits Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Ian Wright discussed the shocking scenes in the studio at half time.

"It's got to be stamped out and you've got to be firm," said Dixon. Keane added: "That was horrible." Wright, meanwhile, slammed UEFA for not doing enough to tackle problem.

"That says everything you need to know about UEFA," said Wright. "We're looking at a stadium where half of it's closed with banners, that's done nothing.

"That's the extent of what they are doing to tackle racism in this country. What we can see is there's certain people there that have no respect.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

"At the end of the day, it's showing UEFA up for what they are. They're doing nowhere near enough, and I'm so proud that we're doing what we're doing at the moment."

Ex-England left-back Steven Warnock declared on BBC Radio 5 Live: "They should be banned straight away. They shouldn't be able to make the EUROs or World Cups for many years. You've got to hit them hard."

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In the second half the racist chanting continued to be monitored by UEFA officials.

England fans, meanwhile, continued to make themselves heard as Sterling made it five and Harry Kane 6-0.

"Who put the ball in the racists' net? Raheem f***ing Sterling," they sang.

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Incredibly, Bulgaria manager Krasimir Balakov said he did not hear the abuse and claimed the home fans were just voicing their unhappiness at the performance.

He said: "I was concentrated on the game. I didn't hear anything. If this is true we have to be ashamed and we have to aplogise but it has to be proven to be true."

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Ahead of the international break several England players announced they would be prepared to walk off the pitch in the Three Lions' Euro 2020 qualifiers this week if they suffered racist abuse.

FA chief Greg Clarke, came down to pitchside during the first half during the stoppages in play.

"We had a pre-agreement with Gareth (Southgate) and Harry (Kane) that I would come down if the game was interrupted.

"I came down, I heard more at the side of the pitch and I saw some activity with some people dressed in black behind one of the corner flags which was appalling.

"I had a chat with Gareth at half-time, asked him if the team was OK. He said he was OK, he said the team was OK and the second half went ahead on that basis.

"We were told by the officials that 50 people, the people in the corner who were causing a lot of the trouble, were thrown out at half-time.

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"I asked them why they hadn't dealt with the other issues, and they said there were isolated examples of racist behaviour, not mass examples of racist behaviour.

"The protocols deal with mass examples of racist behaviour, and they will now investigate, because they are relying on people around the pitch, the referee and the referee's staff.

"They'll have to collect a lot more live footage from the game which will show them the extent of the problem in the whole ground.

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"I'm happy that Gareth was in control from our side. When the first event happened, he got the players together and the announcement was made.

"Then the players came across for a second time, and the players were asked if they wanted to carry on.

"Gareth said it was four minutes until half-time, so let's get to half-time then review it. He sat down to the players, they wanted to get out there and play and win the game.

"I think, and this is only my opinion, that there was less racism and chanting in the second half, but any of it is appalling.

"Gareth at the end, I spoke to him, and he felt they made the right decision to finish the game, and the squad wanted to finish the game.

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"I would like to see a very stringent review by UEFA, because I know they take racism very, very seriously.

"If we say we have zero tolerance to racism, to me one person making monkey chanting noises is the same as a hundred. Zero tolerance is zero tolerance.

"I think at UEFA we need to really address that, but to be perfectly frank we also still need to address racism in England.

"We still have it, we have it throughout the pyramid, we see examples of it every week from the professional game down to the grassroots game.

"We shouldn't take the moral high ground, we should join a movement to drive racism out of our game and have zero tolerance for it.

"I think UEFA are going to have to think very carefully about the level of abuse they are willing to let players tolerate, and they're going to have to decide who they're going to make an example of one day, but that's for after a thorough investigation of the facts.

"Not only do we have a multi-racial team, we have a multi-racial backroom staff. Some of them at half-time were visibly upset at the amount of abuse that the squad were taking.

"We have to be so proud of our players and the squad around them, the support staff, who stood shoulder to shoulder in the face of abject racism and showed they are stronger than racism."