EURO 2020 final: Man arrested over online racist abuse of England players

The 37-year-old from Ashton upon Mersey in Trafford handed himself in to police on Wednesday morning. He was subsequently arrested.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: The 37-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act and remains in custody for questioning.

A man has been arrested after racist messages aimed at England players were posted on social media following the side's European Championship final loss against Italy, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

The 37-year-old from Ashton upon Mersey in Trafford handed himself in to police on Wednesday morning. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of causing an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act and remains in custody for questioning.

The social media post, sent on Sunday evening, was flagged to GMP.

Detective Inspector Matt Gregory said: "The actions of a small number of people overshadowed what was a hugely unifying event for our country on Sunday evening.

"We are firm in our commitment, any racist abuse whether online or off is not acceptable.

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"We now have one man in custody and our investigation continues."

England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were targeted with racist abuse online after missing penalties in Sunday's shootout defeat at Wembley.

The arrest by GMP came after West Mercia Police investigating a racist tweet aimed at Rashford arrested and released a 50-year-old man.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Wednesday that social media companies will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenue if they fail to remove racist abuse from their platforms.