England debated walking off after racist abuse in Bulgaria, admits Southgate

Gareth Southgate has admitted England considered walking off after suffering racist abuse in Bulgaria but says his players were determined to stay on and make a stand in their Euro 2020 qualifier.

England ran out 6-0 winners in Sofia but the game was marred by the torrent of racist abuse directed at their players with the game twice halted during the first half.

"The players were keen to finish the half and then have the discussion at half time," confirmed Southgate.

"I'm incredibly proud of the players and all the staff. Of course, we could be criticised for not going far enough. But I think we have made a huge statement and, frankly, we were in an impossible situation to get it right for the satisfaction of everyone."

"The referee came across on two of the occasions where we reported the abuse," Southgate added.

"With the second we had a long discussion with the players as there was just four minutes until half time.

"We were clear that if there was anything at the beginning of the second half we would have walked straight off and frankly we wouldn't have come back. But the officials here threw a fair number of supporters out of the ground and in the second half our football did the talking.

"The whole group has been united on where they stood on what might happen, during the game, at half time and at the end. Our players feel well supported. It's such a difficult area as not everyone will agree we've gone far enough but I still believe we've made a huge statement. The game was stopped twice - I don't believe that's happened in international football. An even bigger statement was the way our players played.

"We've got players that have been through things they should never experience but they've come off with a smile on their face because of the way they've played. They always want the story to be about football but they've been a part of something that will be bigger."