Thomas Tuchel will remind his England players of the anti-racism protocols as they prepare to play Spain in Madrid for the first time since the notorious meeting between the countries in 2004. Spain won 1-0 at the Bernabéu but the occasion was ruined by racist abuse directed at England’s black players from the stands.
England have since played three games in Spain, although they refused to return to Madrid for the first of them in 2009. The match was moved to Seville. There were no problems in any of the three; the second was in Alicante in 2015, the third back in Seville in 2018.
The Spanish federation was fined £44,750 in the wake of the 2004 fixture when Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jermaine Jenas and Jermain Defoe were targeted. England face Spain in the Nations League at Madrid’s other major stadium – the Metropolitano.
Spain were last month fined £15,000 and ordered to play their next friendly with a partial stadium closure after supporters sang a discriminatory chant about Muslims during a match against Egypt in Barcelona in March.
Tuchel said: “We had a same discussion before the Serbia game [in Belgrade in September of last year]. There is a protocol in place. Maybe we take our five minutes to inform the players about the protocol if there is a precedent [in Madrid]. It’s important that the players know about the protocol. And then, yeah, we will give our answers if stuff like this happens. Best answers are on the pitch.”
England’s head coach made it clear he did not anticipate any problems at the Metropolitano. “It’s unacceptable,” he said. “In any stadium, not even in stadiums … we will never accept racism. We will never be racist towards anyone. That’s just not who we are. I expect, of course, full support from the Spanish crowd for the Spanish team. But we will not expect anything [untoward].”
