England are set to take on Spain in the Euro 2024 final and pundit Micah Richards fears a similar fate for Bukayo Saka as the Euro 2020 final.

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• Micah Richards fears Bukayo Saka racism
• Fears that a Saka penalty miss will cause issues
• England take on Spain in Euro 2024 final

• Table of Contents

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  England were defeated by Italy in the Euro 2020 final in heartbreaking fashion as they lost a penalty shootout following misses from Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. Former Manchester City defender and BBC pundit Richards, has put forth his fear of social media racism and toxicity if Saka goes through the same against Spain.

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  WHAT RICHARDS SAID

  Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Richards was asked about black players being 'English' when they’re winning, but 'black' when they’re not. He responded. "Yeah. And that is a shame. Saka has shown such resilience to come back from missing that penalty. We can all talk about Bellingham and his bicycle kick and he’s the player with the most exciting potential on the squad. But in terms of consistent performance – getting the ball, giving an assist – Saka is the one we can rely on. If Saka misses a penalty on Sunday I’m not even going to look at social media. If a person of colour misses then I will delete all social media for a week because I can’t stomach it. We should all be together.”

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  England haven't exactly been in the best of form despite having made it to the final of Euro 2024, as they struggled through the group stage. However, as the tournament has gone on England's players have slowly started to gel together and now stand 90 minutes from glory.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR SAKA?

  The Arsenal forward will be in action on Sunday at the Olympastadion in Berlin as he will hope to lead the Three Lions to their first major trophy since 1966.

Tags: Futebol
Category: News