Southgate baffled by Hungarians booing Three Lions for taking the knee

Gareth Southgate was perplexed as to why Hungarian children booed England players when they took the knee before the Three Lions’ shock Nations League defeat on Saturday.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s second-half penalty gave Hungary a shock 1-0 victory at the Puskas Arena.

The League A Group 3 game was supposed to be played behind closed doors as punishment for racist behaviour in the same stadium during Euro 2020 last year.

Yet children were allowed to attend the game and a crowd of 35,000 watched England’s record 22-game unbeaten run come to an end in Budapest.

There were boos when England players took the knee prior to kick-off in the same stadium where some of Southgate’s players were subjected to racist abuse during a World Cup qualifier in September.

England manager Southgate told Channel 4: “The first thing is that is why we do it [take the knee], to try to educate people around the world. I have no idea why people would choose to boo that gesture.

“I think very often, young people especially, they can’t know why they are doing it really, so they are being influenced by older adults. The UEFA decision [to allow people into the ground], that is for other people to decide.”

“I think we’ve made our stand as a team, everybody knows what we believe and what we stand for. I think tonight, I’ve got to focus on the football. When you lose, you can’t be talking too much about other areas because I think that would be a lack of responsibility for the result.”

Southgate said there could be no excuse for a substandard display from England, although he questioned referee Artur Dias’ decision to award Hungary a penalty when Reece James was adjudged to have fouled Zsolt Nagy.

“We have to accept that we did not do enough to win the game, a draw