Bulgaria captain Ivelin Popov ’embarassed’ by sickening abuse aimed at England stars
BULGARIAN captain Ivelin Popov revealed his anger, shock and embarrassment over the night that shamed his country.
The attitude of the nation’s most experienced player was in contrast to deluded boss Krasimir Balakov and keeper Plamen Iliev, who claimed they did not hear racist chanting at England’s 6-0 win in Sofia.
Popov, 31 — who plays for Rostov in Russia — risked the wrath of his own fans on Monday by confronting them in the stands at half-time and urging them to stop their disgusting behaviour.
At least the attacking midfielder accepted Bulgaria has a problem and must act immediately because the country’s image around the world has been damaged massively.
There was already a partial closure of the Vasil Levski Stadium due to racism and political gestures made from the home supporters during previous qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Kosovo.
And the Bulgarian football federation will now be hit even harder by Uefa sanctions after Croatian ref Ivan Bebek twice had to stop the game due to racist chanting.
Popov — capped 88 times by Bulgaria — said: “How do I feel? I don’t feel good because we didn’t play well.
“We lost 6-0 and what happened during the game was terrible.
“Of course, I felt embarrassed. I don’t want it to be like this and it’s not good for us, the federation and our country.
“It must stop. In this country, we have a team like Ludogorets with players from every country.
AFTER 17 YEARS OF ’PROGRESS’ CAN WE REALLY TRUST UEFA’S WAR ON RACISM?
HERE are examples of how Uefa and Fifa have dealt with incidents of racist abuse in matches involving the England senior team and Under-21s.
“I never heard this sort of problem in the Bulgarian championship and I don’t know why they behave like this because many fans are supporters of English football.
“In Bulgaria, and particularly Sofia, there are fan clubs for Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester.
“It’s incredible and I don’t know why they acted like this. For me, it’s incredible. A surprise.”
Popov was praised on social media by Marcus Rashford for heading to the stands near the tunnel to speak to the supporters.
But the Bulgarian skipper also got abuse when he pleaded for calm with the raging fans as their team was being torn apart — 4-0 down to England at the break.
Yet Popov knew he had to take it upon himself to speak to the fans, who had already been warned by an announcement in the stadium to stop the racist behaviour.
Unbelievably, Tyrone Mings and the rest of his England team received abuse as they walked out on to the pitch for the warm-up.
Popov added: “It was important that I spoke to the supporters like this because it was a very big problem for everybody. For our federation, for England.
OCT 2002: Slovakia v England (Bratislava). Uefa fines Slovakia £9,000 following racist chants.
SEPT 2003: Macedonia v England (Skopje). Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Heskey all subjected to racial abuse. Hosts fined £16,500 by Uefa.
OCT 2003: England v Turkey (Sunderland). Uefa fine FA £65,000 for fans’ racist language/gestures.
NOV 2004: Spain v England (Madrid). Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole subjected to monkey chants. Fifa fines Spain £44,750.
JUN 2007: Serbia U21 v England U21 (Holland). Serbia fined £16,500 by Uefa after Nedum Onuoha and Justin Hoyte were targeted with abuse.
SEPT 2008: Croatia v England (Zagreb). Heskey again disgracefully abused. Fifa fine Croatia £15,000.
SEPT 2011: Bulgaria v England (Sofia). Monkey noises aimed at Cole, Ashley Young and Theo Walcott. Uefa fine Bulgaria £34,230.
OCT 2012: Serbia U21 v England U21 (Krusevac). Danny Rose abused. Serbia hit with a £65,000 fine by Uefa.
MAR 2019: Montenegro v England (Podgorica). Hosts fined £17,000 by Uefa after more monkey chants.
“And if the fans said more bad words, even one more time, then maybe they would have not finished the game.
“We would have had such a big punishment and it would have been no good for Bulgarian football.
“They were not happy when I went over. That is normal because the first half was 4-0, they were very angry and were saying to me, ‘don’t speak to us’.
“But when I started to speak to them, then they understood. I think in the second half, the situation was better.”
Popov was asked whether the English players asked him to remonstrate with the home fans.
He added: “No. It doesn’t matter your colour. We are all the same, we are one very big family in football. Only if we are together can we stop these bad things.
“England are one of the top teams, a very good team.
“I saw how the coach in training was helping them combine well on the pitch. It’s difficult to play against a team like this.”
Accrington’s Bulgarian keeper Dimi Evtimov was also embarrassed.
He was not part of the squad but the former Under-21 wrote on social media: “Absolutely embarrassing and makes me feel sick that it is happening in 2019.
“I am a proud Bulgarian and I can assure you there are only a few idiots that are trying to shame our country and they should be brought to justice.”
That was in contrast to first-team keeper Iliev who astonishingly praised his side’s supporters.
He said: “If I am honest, I believe they behaved well.
“There wasn’t any abuse I could hear and I think the England players overreacted a bit. The public was on a good level — I didn’t hear any bad language used towards their or our players.”
Bulgaria boss Balakov claimed he had not heard any abuse either.
Most Read in Football
He said: “I personally did not hear the chanting. If these things are proven to be true we have to be ashamed and apologise for it.
“Also England fans were whistling during the national anthem.
“In the second half, they were using words against our fans that I find unacceptable.”
