Bulgaria 0, England 6
It was a shameful night for Bulgarian football as their Euro 2020 qualifier against England in Sofia was stopped twice due to racist chanting.
Embed from Getty ImagesTyrone Mings, making his England debut, was the main target for abuse by a hard core group of home spectators in a shabby and half empty national stadium.
A large section of the Vasil Levski stadium was closed due to racist incidents in June.
England boss Gareth Southgate made five changes to the side that was beaten on Friday against the Czech Republic.
Mings made his debut in place of Michael Keane, while Ben Chilwell replaced the suspended Danny Rose, and Harry Winks, Ross Barkley, and Marcus Rashford also started in place of Declan Rice, Mason Mount, and Jadon Sancho.
Southgate had threatened to lead his players off the pitch at the first sign of racism but the team stayed on the pitch to let their football do their talking after discussions with the coaching team while Bulgarian captain Ivelin Popov tried to appeal to a section of home fans during the first half.
There referee stopped the game twice in the first half, with the stadium announcer threatening to call the game off if there was a third infraction under the UEFA ‘three step protocol’, before the offending group of Bulgarians were ejected having also made what looked like Nazi salutes.
England were well on their way to a 6-0 win in Sofia by that point – 4-0 up by half time – as they thrashed a Bulgaria side which is a long way from their 1960s pomp.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring after 7 minutes and Ross Barkley added two more before two stoppages for foul monkey chants aimed mainly at Mings, Rashford, and Raheem Sterling.
Sterling punished the home side with a first half injury time goal to make it 4-0 at the break before adding another midway through the second half.
And captain Harry Kane continued his record of scoring in every Euro 2020 qualifier in the current campaign with a late sixth having laid on four of the previous five goals and hitting the woodwork.
Victory put England clear on top Group 6 with 5 wins from 6, and 2 games left – home to Montenegro and away at Kosovo in November.
MATCH STATS – Bulgaria 0, England 6
Bulgaria: Iliev, Pashov, Terziev, Sarmov (Kraev 46), Hadzhiev, Zanev, Despodov, Popov, Kostadinov, Farias (Malinov 76), Mustafa (Ivanov 68)
England: Pickford, Trippier, Maguire, Mings, Chilwell, Henderson, Winks, Barkley (Mount 73), Sterling (Sancho 73), Kane, Rashford (C Wilson 76)
Booked: Henderson
Goals: Rashford 7; Barkley 20, 32; Sterling 45+4, 69; Kane 85