Maro Itoje saddened by racial abuse of England players after Euro 2020 final

"It’s become clichéd to say this but we need to do more. We need to do more to tackle it, we need to do more to get these types of people out of the stadium."

Ed Wellard tapes bin liners across offensive wording on a mural of Manchester United and England striker Marcus Rashford on the wall of the Coffee House Cafe in Withington, Manchester, which appeared vandalised the morning after the Uefa Euro 2021 final. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA

British & Irish Lions star Maro Itoje admits he was left feeling sad by the “appalling” behaviour of some England football fans who racially abused their own players for missing penalties in Sunday night’s Euro 2020 final shootout.

The England forward watched his country’s loss to Italy on penalties from the Lions’ South African tour base near Cape Town and said he was braced for a social media backlash towards Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Buyako Saka when their spot-kicks were missed or saved at Wembley. But he said more must be done to eradicate the scourge of racism in the sport.