Bukayo Saka – one of the black England stars who suffered online racist abuse after the Euro 2020 final defeat – says “he was hurting so much” after missing a penalty but “will not let that moment or the negativity I have received break me”.

The winger, along with teammates Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, were targeted on social media after they missed their spot kicks in Sunday’s match against Italy at Wembley.

Saka has called for social media companies to take more action against online trolls.

Writing on Twitter, Saka said: “I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received this week.

“I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.”

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Saka, 19, said there was “no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society”.

And he said by people reporting the abusive messages to police and “driving out the hate by being kind to one another, we will win”.

Referring to missing his spot kick, Saka said: “There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was with the result and my penalty.”

He added: “My reaction post match said it all, I was hurting so much and I felt like I’d let you all and my England family down, but I can promise you this.. I will not let that moment or the negativity that I’ve received this week break me.”

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