Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the “appalling” racist abuse of England players after their Euro 2020 final defeat.

He said the team should be hailed “heroes” following the loss to Italy in a penalty shoot-out.

Instead, they were subjected to online hatred.

Mr Johnson said those who sent abuse should be “ashamed of themselves”.

The Football Association also said it was “appalled” by the racist comments.

The Metropolitan Police is investigating the postings.

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all failed with their penalty kicks.

Their social media sites were immediately hit with racist comments.

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.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a tweet:

“It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable.”

And 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 Metropolitan Police said:

“We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final.

“This abuse is totally unacceptable; it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated.”