"I can't stomach it" - Micah Richards reveals huge racism worry ahead of Spain vs England Euro 2024 final
Former England defender Micah Richards recently spoke about his worry related to racism ahead of the UEFA Euro 2024 final between Spain and England. The two sides will face off in the summit clash at Olympiastadion Berlin on Sunday, July 14.
The Three Lions have reached the Euros final in back-to-back editions. They reached the final in Euro 2020, held in 2021, but lost in the penalty shootout against Italy at Wembley. Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka, and Marcus Rashford missed their penalties for England.
After the game, the trio were victims of some terrible racist abuse. Ahead of the final against Spain, Micah Richards spoke about Saka's resilience, who is the only one of the trio participating at Euro 2024. When asked about the discrimination, he said on the Rest Is Football podcast (via Goal):
"Yeah. And that is a shame. Saka has shown such resilience to come back from missing that penalty. We can all talk about Bellingham and his bicycle kick and he’s the player with the most exciting potential on the squad. But in terms of consistent performance – getting the ball, giving an assist – Saka is the one we can rely on.
"If Saka misses a penalty on Sunday I’m not even going to look at social media. If a person of colour misses then I will delete all social media for a week because I can’t stomach it. We should all be together.”
Saka has been one of England's brightest stars at Euro 2024. He scored the equalising goal in the quarter-final against Switzerland to make it 1-1 and also converted in the penalty shootout later on.
Spain star previews his upcoming battle against England's Bukayo Saka ahead of Euro 2024 final
Spain left-back Marc Cucurella will most likely be directly up against England's Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday. Ahead of the clash, he spoke about knowing about the Arsenal winger and how he plans to stop him. He said (via Goal):
"I know how Saka plays. I don't really need to watch a lot of footage as I normally watch all the Arsenal games.
"It is so tough to mark him, but those challenges are nice for me. Playing against rivals of such quality is nice, I'm sure we both can't wait for it. My main target is to make him feel uncomfortable."
Cucurella and Saka have faced off five times in the Premier League, with the latter winning twice. The Spain left-back has won once while the other two games ended in a draw.