Arsenal and England star, Bukayo Saka has shared an emotional message after suffering racist abuse following the euros 2020 final.
The 19-year-old English winger took the last penalty against Italy and failed to score as his effort was saved by Donnarumma.
After the game, he was racially abused online alongside Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
Saka has now broken his silence on the matter in an open, heartfelt message to all football fans.
He wrote: “I have stayed away from social media for a few days to spend time with my family and reflect on the last few weeks,” he said on Twitter.
“This message won’t do it justice, how grateful I am for all the love that I have received, and I feel that I need to thank everyone who has supported me.
“There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was with the result and my penalty. I really believed we would win this for you. I’m sorry that we couldn’t bring it home for you this year, but I promise you that we will give everything we’ve got to make sure this generation knows how it feels to win.”
“To the social media platforms Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus, and Jadon have received this week.
“I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality of that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.
“There is no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society and to the majority of people coming together to call out the people sending these messages, by taking action and reporting these comments to the police and by driving out the hate by being kind to one another, we will win.
“Love always wins.”
