JUDE BELLINGHAM has called out the racists in football after reliving the shameful reaction to England’s Euro 2020 shoot-out misery.
The Three Lions missed out on being crowned European champions after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka failed from the spot at Wembley.
All three were subjected to vile racist abuse in the days after, and 18-year-old Bellingham admits the way they were singled out for their colour exposes the problems in society.
He told CNN Sport: “The biggest take away from the whole experience for me was the contrast.
“I think you look at the run into the final, it felt like the country had united and it felt like we were heading on the same path.
“We had players, black players in the team, players of all different backgrounds from all different countries in the team.
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“And then as soon as they missed the penalty, they’re not English, they’re just black.
“Anyone could miss a penalty. Anyone can make a mistake in their line of work. But it’s impossible to be criticised like that. It should never happen.
“They are human. Look at what Marcus has done with feeding the children. He’s bringing out books. He’s supporting people in that way.
“Jadon’s got pitches in London, I think, released some boots that a load of people from his area felt proud of. Bukayo similar. All top, top characters.
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“And then you see them kind of brought down like that. It’s disgusting, but it’s hard to take, to be honest, as a team-mate. It’s really like… wow, because that could have been me.
“What if it was me who missed the pen? And all of a sudden you’re English for seven games, you miss a pen and you’re nothing.”
Bellingham gets a racist message in his Instagram inbox after most games, saying the number depends on what he’s done during the match.
He added: “I’m a footballer.I turn up, I play football, I go home.
“I don’t think there’s a single job in the world where you deserve to be criticised with racism.
“But, you know, that’s the world we live in. And that’s why we’ve got to do more. That’s why the people in power have got to do more.”