ARNAUT Danjuma praised the way England’s clash in Bulgaria was handled amid horrific scenes in the crowd, adding how he had experienced racist abuse himself in Belgium.

England’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia was halted twice during the first half on Monday after visiting players, including debutant and ex-Cherries defender Tyrone Mings, reported racist behaviour from a section of Bulgaria supporters, who were seen and heard performing monkey chants and Nazi salutes.

In a bid to try and tackle racism in football, UEFA have introduced a new three-step protocol which sees an announcement made in the stadium if racist abuse is spotted from fans, warning them to stop.

If the abhorrent behaviour continues, the game is again paused to allow for a second call, instructing those in the ground that the game would be abandoned if the abuse continued. Players are also sent back to the dressing rooms. The third step would see the game abandoned.

The system almost reached step two after 43 minutes in Sofia, before a swathe of Bulgaria fans left the Vasil Levski Stadium with England insisting they wanted to complete the first half.

The game, which was already taking place in front of thousands of empty seats due to a UEFA sanction to Bulgaria for previous racist behaviour from the crowd during matches in June, played to a conclusion with Gareth Southgate’s men triumphing 6-0.

Discussing the three-step protocol, Danjuma, who joined Cherries from Club Brugge in the summer, told the Daily Echo: “I’ve read about it (racism at the Bulgaria v England game).

"I think that (protocol) is a good thing.

“Obviously everybody knows racism is not good and you should do something about it. So if it reaches a certain level, then you need to react like that I think."

Asked if he has ever witnessed anything similar during his playing career, Netherlands international Danjuma, who was born in Nigeria, revealed: “To be honest, me personally I’ve never had any bad experience with it neither in England nor Holland, in Belgium a bit though.

“But to be fair, so far in England I didn’t really experience anything bad with racism.

“(In Belgium) it was towards me and my friends. In Belgium there were a couple of moments and a couple of times that you could feel the racism.

“But then again, I think until a certain level, you need to just close your ears to it I think.

“Nowadays it isn’t good, but it’s just reality that it happens, so I think you shouldn’t let it bother you all the time.

“When it reaches a certain level that it crosses a line then you obviously don’t accept it anymore.”

Monday night’s match in Sofia was the latest in a list of high-profile incidents involving racism this season, notably social media abuse of Premier League stars such as Paul Pogba or Tammy Abraham.

Speaking before England’s trip to Bulgaria, Cherries boss Eddie Howe was asked how he felt clubs were dealing with such problems and said: “It’s difficult for me to talk about other clubs.

“I can only speak about ours and there’s no place for racism in football on any level.

“We’ve tried and backed various initiatives to try and educate people really because I think that’s the key word – if you can educate as many people around the world against racism then football and life will be better for it.

“We encourage everyone to do that.”