‘As a society we need to do better’: Jadon Sancho speaks out about racist abuse he and his ‘brothers’ Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka received after Euro 2020 and insists ‘hate will never win’ – before revealing post-final feeling was the ‘worst I’ve felt’
Jadon Sancho has insisted ‘we need to do better as a society’ and ‘hold people accountable’ as he spoke out for the first time after he and his ‘brothers’ Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka received racial abuse.
The 21-year-old was a victim of vile racial abuse after he was one of three players to miss from the penalty spot as England suffered an agonising 3-2 shootout defeat against Italy.
Sancho, who is on the verge of returning to England in a £73million deal to join Manchester United, admitted missing his penalty was the ‘worst feeling in my career’ as he released a statement following Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Writing on Instagram, Sancho also hit out at the people who racially abused him and team-mates Rashford and Saka.
The statement read: ‘I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on Sunday’s final and still feel a mix of emotions. I would like to say sorry to all my teammates, coaching staff and most of all the fans who I let down.
This is by far the worst feeling I’ve felt in my career. It’s hard to even put into words the real feeling, but there were so many positives to take away from this tournament though the defeat will hurt for a long time. My first thought before going into any football match is always “How can I help my team?, how am I going to assist? how am I going to score? how am I going to create chances?
And that’s exactly what I wanted to do with that penalty, help the team. I was ready and confident to take it, these are the moments you dream of as a kid, it is why I play football. These are the pressured situations you want to be under as a footballer. I’ve scored penalties before at club level, I’ve practiced them countless times for both club and country so I picked my corner but it just wasn’t meant to be this time.’
It continued: ‘I’m not going pretend that I didn’t see the racial abuse that me and my brothers Marcus and Bukayo received after the game, but sadly it’s nothing new. As a society we need to do better, and hold these people accountable.
Hate will never win. To all the young people who have received similar abuse, hold your heads up high and keep chasing the dream. I am proud of this England team and how we have united the whole nation in what has been a difficult 18 months for so many people. Much as we wanted to win the tournament, we will build and learn from this experience going forward.’
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