England: Callum Hudson-Odoi condemns unacceptable racist abuse in Montenegro and urges Uefa to act
Danny Rose and the Chelsea starlet were subjected to monkey chants towards the end of the game, while Raheem Sterling also reacted to racial abuse from the crowd
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Your support makes all the difference.Callum Hudson-Odoi has condemned the “unacceptable” racial abuse that he and Danny Rose were subjected to at the end of England’s 5-1 win over Montenegro.
Making his full international debut, the 18-year-old set-up Ross Barkley for England’s second goal and impressed throughout the ninety minutes, despite never starting a Premier League game at Chelsea.
However, the win was marred by racist abuse from the crowd which Hudson-Odoi, Danny Rose and Raheem Sterling all acknowledged after the game.
“I don’t think discrimination should be anywhere,” Hudson-Odoi told BeIN Sports. “As I said, we’re equal, we have to play a fair game and enjoy the moment but when you’re hearing stuff like that from the fans it’s not right, it’s unacceptable and hopefully Uefa deal with it properly because when I went over there and heard it, they were saying monkey stuff.
“We just have to keep our heads and a strong mentality and obviously, hopefully, [Danny Rose] Rosey is okay as well and if anything we will have a chat and discuss what happened. He’s got a strong mentality, he’s a strong guy.
“It’s not right at all. I was enjoying the game as well and to hear stuff like that is never right but you’ve got to have a strong mentality and we’re still delighted for the win.
“Raheem’s always helped, he’s been talking to me about it, trying to say ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s football, people do it. Obviously, it’s not right in the game but you’ve got to stay strong’. I’ve spoken to him and Rosey about it, and in football you’re always going to get that. People are always going to be rude to you or say stuff you don’t want to hear and it’s part of football. Sometimes you’ve got to block it out your head and keep going on with the game, but at the same time it should never happen in football, everybody should be enjoying the game, and as I said it’s unacceptable.
Gareth Southgate said England would report the racist abuse, and said he “definitely heard” the chants aimed at Rose at the end of the game.
“I definitely heard some abuse of Danny Rose when he got booked at the end of the game,” said Southgate. “There is no doubt in my mind that that happened. We’ll make sure that it’s reported officially, it’s not acceptable.
“I’m not sure yet about Raheem. I had a quick chat with Danny because I heard what had happened there. I’ve not had chance to speak with Raheem. Whatever’s happened, we’ll report it. I don’t want to speculate yet, but I know what I heard.
“We’ll definitely deal with it in the right way, and we’ve got to make sure we support our players.”
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