Aston Villa assistant manager John Terry has sent a message of encouragement in the way of England international Bukayo Saka and his teammates, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho after they were all subjected to racist comments on social media on the back of their missed penalties during the Euro 2020 final at the Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
John Terry sent encouraging messages to the three players via his Instagram Story. According to the Chelsea legend, Arsenal star Saka is one of the biggest and brightest talents. John Terry also praised Manchester United forward Rashford and his soon-to-be club colleague Sancho. Sancho is on the verge of completing a £73m move from German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United.
Saka, Rashford and Sancho all came off the bench against Italy during the Euro 2020 final. England and Italy had scored before the three attackers were subbed on. Saka came on for Atletico Madrid defender Kieran Trippier in the second half shortly after Juventus centre back Leonardo Bonucci scored the lone goal for Italy, while Sancho and Rashford came on at the end of extra time.
Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw gave hosts England a dream start inside two minutes off the assist from the aforementioned Trippier and the Three Lions held on till the midpoint of the second half when Bonucci restored parity for the Italians thereby forcing extra time and penalty shootout when the two teams could not add to their tally. During penalty shootout, Italy were the first to blink after Torino striker Andrea Belotti missed their second spot kick before Rashford and Sancho missed the third and fourth England penalties. Italy led 3-2 into the final and fifth penalty taken by Chelsea midfielder Jorginho. Jorginho missed the chance to wrap up the shootout after his penalty was saved thus paving the way for Saka to send the shootout into sudden death. In the end, Saka also missed the fifth and final penalty to hand the Euro 2020 title to the Italians.