England's Euro 2020 clash with Bulgaria was stopped TWICE after vile racist chanting was directed at the Three Lions players at Stadion Vasil Levski.
UEFA has a three-step protocol to tackle racism, and the first of these was triggered in the first half in Sofia after Tyrone Mings and Raheem Sterling were subjected to abuse.
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.
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."
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 see the game abandoned.
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."
UEFA, meanwhile, announced they wouldn't be releasing a statement on Monday night.
Bulgarian captain Ivelin Popov was seen speaking to supporters in the stand at half time, demanding they stop the racist chanting to prevent the match from being abandoned.
Some Bulgarian fans were then seen leaving the stadium.
Meanwhile FA Chairman Greg Clarke had a brief chat with Southgate on the touchline, but the details of this conversation are not yet known.
England lead Bulgaria 4-0 at the break, with Marcus Rashford, Ross Barkley (2) and Sterling all getting on the scoresheet.
ITV Sport pundits Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Ian Wright 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.
"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."
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.
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.
The president of the Bulgarian Football Union made an official complaint to UEFA following this declaration, accusing England players of being "offensive" and "unjust".
Borislav Mihaylov wrote: "What I can say is that I don't think we have a problem.
"In the Bulgarian championship, we have a lot of players of different ethnicities and skin colour. I don't think that we have this big problem like, for example, England do."
He added: "What I meant was that in the Bulgarian championship we've not had such problems while there have been incidents in various levels of English football involving racism, which I consider something normal because it's a big country with a very diverse population.
"But we don't have this problem in Bulgaria, I can assure you of that."
.jpg?w=600)
