Wednesday 26 December 2018 07:05, UK
Gareth Southgate says Raheem Sterling is "brave" for speaking out on racism in football.
Sterling accused newspapers of fuelling racism with their portrayal of young black footballers after facing alleged racist abuse in Manchester City's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea.
Asked what he made of Sterling's comments, the England manager told Sky Sports News: "It's easier for me to talk about what I feel about what Raheem's done and how brave he's been in speaking up.
"We've seen incidents of racism in the last few months that have always been unacceptable, remain unacceptable and will be unacceptable if they happen in the future. We have to hope they don't.
"Football is a mirror of society and unfortunately racism exists in society and so there are times when people use the opportunity at a football ground to fuel that.
"We have to stand strong as a game to make sure that does not happen.
"I really commend what he did and I think he should be very proud of being brave enough to stand up because it's not an easy thing to do."
