A mural of Marcus Rashford in his home city of Manchester was vandalised just hours after he missed a penalty in England's Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy.
Rashford, as well as new Manchester United signing Jadon Sancho and Arsenal's Bukayo Saka were all subjected to racist abuse after missing their spot-kicks as England failed to break their 55-year-long major trophy drought at Wembley last night.
Within a matter of hours after the match finished, the mural depicting Rashford on a wall in Withington was defaced with the vandals daubing offensive words across Rashford's image.
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The graffiti on the mural mentions both Saka and Sancho, as well as including a number of swear words.
The tribute to Rashford was painted on the wall by artist Akse last year after Rashford's heroic efforts to provide free school meals for children who needed them last year.
Rashford forced the government into a U-turn on their policy, and won great praise and respect from people both inside and outside of the football world in the process.
The pictures of the defaced mural were shared on social media this morning, with one observer writing: "Someone has vandalised Marcus Rashford's mural last night. Do you know how sick in the head do you have to be to do that? This is a f*****g disgrace."
The racist abuse that was directed at Rashford, Saka, and Sancho has been widely condemned, with the Football Association releasing a statement slamming those responsible for the online hatred.
A spokesperson for England's football governing body wrote: "We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team.
"We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.
"We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences."
"Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed those sentiments with his own statement this morning, tweeting: "This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.
"Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves."
LADbible has contacted Greater Manchester Police for a comment on the matter.
Featured Image Credit: TwitterTopics: Police, SPORT, UK News, Football, Euro 2020, England, Marcus Rashford, crime