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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dan Kilpatrick, Malik Ouzia

Bulgaria vs England LIVE: Euro 2020 qualifier halted twice over racism as England win 6-0 in Sofia

England players speak with manager Gareth Southgate as the match is temporarily stopped (Picture: Action Images via Reuters)

Welcome to the Evening Standard's Euro 2020 qualifying coverage of Bulgaria vs England LIVE in Sofia tonight.

England's 6-0 win over Bulgaria was marred by racist abuse from sections of the home crowd at Stadion Vasil Levski.

The build-up to the game had been dominated by fears that there could be incidents of racism and England staff had to alert match officials to it during the first half in Sofia.

The Croatian referee Ivan Bebek spoke to England captain Harry Kane and a stadium announcement, calling for the racist chanting to stop, was made over the public address system in the 28th minute.

The match was halted for a second time in the 43rd minute before resuming and reaching half-time, at which point the visitors led 4-0 thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford, Ross Barkley (two) and Raheem Sterling.

The game continued as Sterling and Harry Kane added a goal apiece after the break, but this match will be remembered for the shameful scenes in the stands.

Can't see the Bulgaria vs England LIVE blog? Click here for the desktop version.

TV channel and live stream, and online coverage

The match will be shown live on ITV. The channel is Free To Air in the UK, with coverage starting at 7pm BST.

Viewers in the UK can stream the game live on the ITV Hub, and follow all the action with us at Standard Sport.

Team news and starting lineups

Bulgaria XI: Iliev, Pashov, Terziev, Hadzhiev, Zanev, Despodov, Ivelin Popov, Sarmov, Kostadinov, Wanderson, Isa

England XI: Pickford, Trippier, Mings, Maguire, Chilwell, Winks, Henderson, Barkley, Sterling, Kane, Rashford

Bulgaria subs: Galin Ivanov, Marcelinho, Malinov, Goranov, Nedyalkov, Mihailov, Dimitrov, Hristo Ivanov, Karagaren, Lozev, Kraev, Slavchev

England subs: Henderson, Pope, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Keane, Rice, Sancho, Tomori, Abraham, Mount, Wilson

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