The Prime Minister has condemned the "appalling" racist abuse of England players on social media after their Euro 2020 final defeat.

Boris Johnson said the team deserve to be hailed as "heroes" following the Three Lions’ loss to Italy and not subjected to hatred online, adding that those who sent abuse should be "ashamed of themselves".

Marcus Rashford, 23, Jadon Sancho, 21, and 19-year-old Bukayo Saka's social media pages were quickly flooded with comments after they all missed from the spot after the game against Italy went to a penalty shootout.

Showing his support to the England stars, two of which (Sancho and Saka) hail from the Watford football club academy, Mr Johnson tweeted: "This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves."

The Football Association (FA) has also issued a statement saying it is "appalled", while the Metropolitan Police vowed to investigate.

An FA spokesman said: "The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.

"We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.

"We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore Government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.

"Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse."

The Met also condemned the "unacceptable" abuse, adding that they will be investigating the “offensive and racist” social media posts.

The force said in a statement on Twitter: "We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final."