The England international was subject to racism during a Euro 2020 qualifier last month, but wasn’t surprised after a similar incident in Serbia years earlier

Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose has opened up about the impact racism is having on professional footballers all across the globe and admitted he expected to be racially abused ahead of England’s game away to Montenegro on March 25.

Speaking after helping Spurs to a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the first Premier League fixture at the club’s new stadium, the left-back was quizzed on the chants he was on the receiving end of during last month’s Euro 2020 Group A qualifier.

Rose played the whole match for England and Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate stated at full time he clearly heard the racism aimed at the Tottenham defender.

When asked about the night in Montenegro, Rose, 28, said: “I sort of prepared myself for what happened. I was fine. Had we not been winning, the yellow card I got at the end might have been a red, but I am fine.

“I prepared myself for it, we won and we will wait for whatever punishment – if any – happens and see what happens.”

Left-back Rose added: “Obviously it is sad I had to prepare for it, but when countries only get fined what I probably spend on a night out in London, what do you expect?

“You saw my manager (Mauricio Pochettino) get banned for two games just for being confrontation with Mike Dean at Burnley, but yet a country only gets fined a little bit of money for being racist? It is a bit of a farce.

“That is where we are at now with football and until there is a harsh punishment, there is not much else we can expect.”

Sadly this is not the first time Rose has been subject to racism while away on international duty.

Back in 2012, he played for England under-21s away to Serbia and was sent off at the end of the match having been on the receiving end of racist chants.

Serbia were eventually fined £65,000 and had to play a game behind closed doors, but some of the current punishments for racism are not even that much.

According to the BBC, the minimum punishment from UEFA for an incident of racism is a partial stadium closure, while a second offence results in one match being played behind closed doors and a fine of £42,500.

England won the game with Montenegro by a 5-1 score and Rose insisted he wanted the spotlight after the victory to all be about a great week for Gareth Southgate’s men.

He added: “No, I wasn’t too upset to talk, I just didn’t want the focus to be on me and I have to say it was only a very small minority out of the fans who were doing the chants, so I didn’t want the post-match to be about me.

“I wanted everyone to focus on a good week for England, we scored 10 goals and it was a great performance over the two games (including the 5-0 home win over Czech Republic) and I just didn’t want to put any focus on me that was all.”

Reflecting on his previous disturbing experience in England colours overseas, Rose explained: “I played in Serbia about eight years ago and it happened there, so I sort of thought there is a possibility it may happen again and it did.

“It happened and I looked straight up in the first half and I know the exact time it happened in the first half and it didn’t affect my game.

“I am a big boy now and I know that three points is obviously not the most important thing when you are going through something like that, but I just wanted the team to get three points and to move on and get out of Montenegro as soon as possible.”

Another high-profile racism incident occurred this week with Juventus forward Moise Kean the target of racist abuse in Tuesday’s Serie A match away to Cagliari.

He provided the perfect response to the sickening chants by celebrating his goal by holding his arms outstretched in front of the home supporters.

It led to more racist abuse and while Kean was able to get on with things, the effects of little action are wearing thin with others.

Rose concluded: “I’ve had enough and at the minute how I programme myself now, I think I have five or six more years left in football and I just can’t wait to see the back of it.

“Seeing how things are done in the game at the minute, it’s just whatever and you just have to get on with it.

“I feel I have five or six years left and I want to enjoy football as much as I can. There are so many politics and whatever else in football, I can’t wait to see the back of it to be honest.”