"A disgraceful act and bad manners": the Spain v Egypt scandal is repeated against England

Spain's match against visitors England, on Sunday evening, witnessed an unfortunate incident that sparked considerable controversy.

According to "The Sun", boos and insults rang out from the stands during England's national anthem, and every time their players touched the ball.

"Mundo Deportivo" noted a sarcastic smile on the face of England manager Thomas Tuchel as the boos began from a large section of the stands the moment the English anthem started.

None of this is new. Booing during opposing teams' national anthems has happened again and again.

Back in Seville, on the day Spain qualified for the World Cup in Qatar, Luis Enrique voiced his displeasure at the boos during the Swedish national anthem.

The same thing happened last March in Villarreal and Barcelona, this time during the anthems of Serbia and Egypt.

At the Metropolitano, 3,500 English fans let out boos at the first notes of the Spanish national anthem. Thousands of voices singing the anthem quickly drowned them out.

The Spanish newspaper was blunt: "What we know for certain is that booing during the playing of any national anthem is a disgraceful act, as it is proof of a lack of manners".

Spain's surprise home draw against Egypt caused a great stir in the Spanish press, whose commentary focused on what some called a "disgrace" following the racist attack by the Spanish crowd against Muslims during the Egyptian national anthem.

On the technical side, they laid the blame on manager Luis de la Fuente for the sheer number of changes against Egypt, despite it being the final rehearsal before he named the squad La Roja will take to the 2026 World Cup.

De la Fuente had reasons for the test. Drawn with Saudi Arabia in Group Eight alongside Uruguay and Cape Verde, he wanted his players up against a similar school of football, so he picked Egypt, who in turn saw the match as a strong chance to boost their players' confidence against the top-ranked side in the world.

"AS" turned its attention to the racist incident during the Egyptian national anthem, with booing whistles and shameful chants of the type "whoever refuses to jump is a Muslim", repeated several times in the first half.

The paper splashed "A global disgrace" across its front page, and ran the line "Shameful racist chants at the Cornellà stadium" along the top of its cover.

In the background sat an image of the main screen at the stadium during the attempt to stop the fans' racism between the two halves, when the FIFA anti-racism protocol was activated. The screen read: "It is worth noting that the legislation on preventing violence in sport prohibits and punishes active participation in acts of violence, hatred or racism against foreigners".

"AS" also pointed out that the international press, Egyptian media included, condemned the matter as a "scandal" that harms Spain's image ahead of the 2030 World Cup.