England win marred by racist chants

It should have been the night to celebrate the emergence of another prodigious teenage forward in the latest joyous display by Gareth Southgate’s young England team.

Instead, England’s 5-1 win over Montenegro yesterday will most likely be remembered for apparent racist invective coming from the stands.

Starting a competitive international before he has even started an English Premier League game, 18-year-old Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi showed flashes of brilliance and set up one goal from one of his mazy runs in a one-sided Euro qualifier.

Yet he left the field in Podgorica as disillusioned with the game as he was happy to be the second youngest player – at 18 years, 138 days – to start a competitive match for England, after Wayne Rooney.

‘‘Me and Rosey [England left back Danny Rose] heard it, they were saying monkey stuff,’’ Hudson-Odoi said, mimicking the alleged chants to England’s black players. ‘‘We have to just keep our heads, a strong mentality.’’

Southgate said the English Football Association would be making an official complaint. ‘‘It’s not acceptable,’’ he said.

Ross Barkley scored twice – one of the goals a glancing finish off Hudson-Odoi’s shot – while Michael Keane and Harry Kane added the others for England, who started the qualifying campaign for Euro 2020 with a 5-0 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday.

In the group’s other game, Kosovo marked its first Euro qualifier since becoming a member of Uefa in 2016 by drawing with Bulgaria 1-1 at home.

Elsewhere in qualifying, world champions France fully capitalised on Iceland’s defensive deficiencies and lack of imagination Group A

Kosovo 1-1 Bulgaria Montenegro 1-5 England Group B Luxembourg 1-2 Ukraine Portugal 1-1 Serbia Group H

Turkey 4-0 Moldova Andorra 0-3 Albania France 4-0 Iceland to demolish Atlantic nation 4-0.

In other Group H matches, Turkey crushed Moldovia 4-0, and Albania won 3-0 at Andorra.

In Group B, an injury to Cristiano Ronaldo exacerbated Portugal’s frustrating start to their European Championship title defence.

Ronaldo hobbled off in the first half with an apparent right hamstring injury in Portugal’s 1-1 draw with Serbia in Lisbon.

Also in Group B, Ukraine beat Luxembourg 2-1. the North