England’s Raheem Sterling booed by Hungary fans and pelted with projectiles after goal | Football | Sport
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Raheem Sterling was pelted with projectiles from the stands after scoring England‘s opener at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. In truly unsavoury scenes, the England winger ran off in celebration to a chorus of boos as he unveiled what seemed to be a tribute on his undershirt.
England were always going to be in for a raucous atmosphere in Budapest, with no Three Lions fans permitted to make the journey to counter the 60,000 in attendance.
In the wake of Euro 2020, UEFA handed Hungary a two-game order to play behind closed doors due to homophobic slurs from the stands.
With Thursday’s World Cup qualifier sanctioned by FIFA, however, the order did not apply to the England tie.
It was certainly an unsportsmanlike reaction to an opposition side taking the lead, with Sterling slotting home from close range.
Shortly afterwards, the Manchester City winger turned provider after pouncing on some lacklustre Hungary defending.
Sterling whipped in a cross for Harry Kane who unleashed a diving header to put England two to the good.
Harry Maguire then scored from a corner to make it 3-0 as the visitors ran out comfortable victors.
Manager Gareth Southgate had previously addressed what he predicted would be a rowdy atmosphere in Budapest, although he insisted England had the experience to cope.
He said: “I think we know the experience we had before but we are going to Hungary preparing for a game in front of a crowd who will get behind their team and we are looking forward to the challenge of the match.
“Everything else is speculation.
“We of course have talked to the players about a different atmosphere because we were at home all the way through the summer apart from the one game in Rome but that is the test as a top player.”
With England steaming towards victory in Hungary, they are likely to continue their perfect record in this campaign’s World Cup qualifiers, with Sterling’s contribution pointing them towards four wins from four outings.
Before domestic action resumes, they will host Andorra at Wembley before making a tricky trip to Poland.
The tie marked the first time the Three Lions returned to the pitch since their heart-breaking defeat to Italy in the final of Euro 2020.
The hostile atmosphere at the Puskas Arena was always likely to throw up a few fireworks, but players like Sterling have shown time and again that they are able to produce despite adversity.
When it comes to the Hungarian fans, UEFA have already handed them a two-match ban to force them to play behind closed doors.
It remains to be seen whether FIFA will hand them a ban of their own for the way they reacted to the Sterling opener.
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