Ross Barkley believes England have the strength of character to cope with any racist abuse in Bulgaria.
The build-up to Monday’s qualifier has been overshadowed by fears the visitors may be subjected to similar discrimination which marred their last visit in September 2011.
Uefa then fined the Bulgarian FA £34,230 after Ashley Young, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott were subjected to monkey chanting.
The capacity of the Vasil Levski Stadium is reduced by 5,000 for this evening’s game as punishment for further discriminatory behaviour by Bulgarian supporters in previous Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Several England players were also subjected to racist abuse during their qualifier in Montenegro last March, a match in which Barkley scored twice as Gareth Southgate’s side eased to a 5-1 victory. The England coach sought to tackle the issue in a meeting with his squad last week and the players have agreed to follow Uefa’s three-step protocol but may walk off the field if some of them feel the officials are not taking sufficient action.
When asked whether a young team can keep their composure in what is likely to be a hostile environment, Barkley said: “We can deal with it because the group dealt with in in Montenegro. At the time, I didn’t really see anything. I came off the pitch when a couple of the lads had abuse shouted at them.
“After the game, you see [what happened] and it’s disappointing. It is not what you need in football. Hopefully it is not like that in Bulgaria. Their fans might be really respectful, you don’t know. But we have a strong group and if anyone is not happy with how it goes, we stick together as a team.”
England can qualify for next summer’s finals if they beat Bulgaria and Kosovo fail to defeat Montenegro — an achievement that Barkley believes would provide the perfect riposte to Friday’s 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic.
“With a win, Friday is forgotten,” he said. “Not for the players but for the fans. They were fantastic and we didn’t repay them with a win.”
