As the Three Lions endured a heartbreaking defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final Sunday in the penalty shootout, three coloured players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – were subjected to racist abuse.

The British police opened investigations today to find out the perpetrators.  

The Metropolitan Police condemned this "unacceptable" abuse and said they will be investigating the "offensive and racist" social media posts published soon after Italy won Sunday's shootout 3-2 following a 1-1 draw.

A mural of Rashford on the wall of a cafe in south Manchester was also defaced with graffiti in the wake of the match.

READ: EURO 2020 Final: Italy Seal European Football Championship

The racist abuse, which was condemned as "unforgivable" by England coach Gareth Southgate, has led to calls for social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, to do more in hunting down the perpetrators of the abuse.

All three players targeted are part of a young England squad that has been widely praised for its diversity and social conscience. Rashford has been at the forefront of a campaign against child poverty, which convinced the British government to restore free lunches for thousands of poor children amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have been a beacon of light in bringing people together, in people being able to relate to the national team, and the national team stands for everybody and so that togetherness has to continue," Southgate said.

Prince William, the president of the English Football Association, condemned the abuse saying he was "sickened" by the racism aimed at the England players.

"It is unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour," he wrote on Twitter. "It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable."

The English Football Association said it will give the players affected what support it can and will press on authorities for the "toughest punishments possible" for anyone found to have been responsible for the abuse.

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

READ: Racist abuse targets 3 English players who missed penalties

Social media companies, it added, need to "step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms" to ensure that their platforms are "free from this type of abhorrent abuse."

Twitter said the "abhorrent racist abuse" has no place on its platform, adding it removed more than 1,000 tweets and permanently suspended several accounts for violating its rules.