Tammy Abraham has insisted England were right not to walk off the pitch in Bulgaria and claimed that racists are shown up as “idiots” if teams “let football do the talking”.
Uefa are continuing to investigate after Gareth Southgate’s side were subjected to sickening discriminatory abuse including monkey chants and Nazi salutes during last week’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia.
The match was stopped twice, with England given the option of leaving the field — something Abraham (above) said in the build-up the players may do even in defiance of UEFA protocol. As it was, Croatian referee Ivan Bebek escalated their complaints in accordance with the three-step plan, but England decided to stay on the pitch to complete a 6-0 rout which puts them on the brink of qualification for next summer’s finals.
Abraham, who was part of the Premier League’s ‘No Room for Racism’ campaign which featured a video aired on big screens at matches and across media outlets last weekend, told Standard Sport: “What we went through in Bulgaria is not acceptable really.
“Everyone is trying to do the best they can to get rid of this, watching Sky Sports and seeing ‘No Room for Racism’ everywhere. It is nice to have that support behind everyone. We have to be professional, move on and let the football do the talking.
“Am I happy with how we handled it in Bulgaria? Yeah, definitely. To see a lot of clips and videos of the boys all getting together, talking with each other and also our performance out there as well.
“Let our football do the talking and they just feel like idiots.”
Abraham returned to domestic action in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Newcastle which extended their winning streak to five matches.
Marcos Alonso scored the only goal of a hard-fought contest in which the highlight was Callum Hudson-Odoi’s promising form on only his second League start following an Achilles injury.
Abraham believes the 18-year-old is closing in on his best already and is relishing the prospect of playing alongside his fellow England international.
“When I play with him I just enjoy watching him really,” added Abraham. “I stand still sometimes. It’s nice to have him back. He’s still getting that match fitness back and as you can see he’s looking sharp. Give him a couple of games and he’ll be flying again.”
