Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann has backed England's stance on taking the knee before games, amid boos from supporters, and says the message of solidarity is an important one.

Gareth Southgate expected his England players to be jeered for taking the knee ahead of their win over Romania but again insisted they will continue to make the gesture going forward.

The Three Lions boss had asked for supporters not to boo the stance on the eve of this final Euro 2020 warm-up game at the Riverside Stadium but, as they did on Wednesday night, a minority ignored Southgate’s pleas.

Speaking to the i paper, Bachmann said that the diversity shown by football teams was an example of "how the world should be" and that the kneeling was a sign that all were standing together against abuse.

"It’s a difficult situation because like Gareth Southgate said after the game, people seem to think it’s a political stance that they don’t agree with but it’s not, it's just a sign that we’re all together and supporting everyone that gets abused," said the keeper.

“I think it’s an important message. A football dressing room is probably the best example of how a society should be. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, it doesn’t matter what you look like, it doesn’t matter who you are, we’re all one team, we all get on well and understand each other. If you look into a dressing room that’s how the world should be. There are lots of different nations, skin colours, sexualities and everyone gets on and respects each other. And that’s how it should be.

“It’s nice that I’m in this kind of bubble and environment everyday.”

Bachmann's place in the starting XI for Austria's opening group fixture against North Macedonia has already been confirmed by coach Franco Foda after the keeper impressed in warm up games against England and Slovakia.

The 26-year-old is hopeful his nation can progress from the group stages.

“The first target is to make it to the last 16. From there you never know how far can you go, if you hit form at the right time we can go a long way because we do have a good team," he said.

"The first step is to win the first group game against North Macedonia, they’re a tough side, they beat Germany a couple of months ago so they’re not a walkover, but that’s a game we have to win if we want to do well.

“We have quality players, 21 of our 26 players play in the Bundesliga and at good clubs as well. We do have a good squad, it’s just about everything coming together. Everybody knows how good Marko Arnautovic can be, same with David Alaba, he’s won 27 titles in 11 years at Bayern Munich including two Champions Leagues and then Marcel Sabitzer as well, he’s been linked with Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool so we have quality players.”