BULGARIAN striker Hristo Stoichkov was last night accused of making racist comments towards France's players during their Group B encounter at St James' Park.
French defender Marcel Desailly, who tussled with Stoichkov throughout the match and received a fourth minute booking for bringing him down, claimed the Parma forward verbally abused him and other players of African origin during France's 3-1 victory.
Ghana born Desailly claimed: "In the first 20 minutes he made comments about me and other African players. I do not think he is such a good player any more. I did not get anything out of my battle with him. I did not appreciate the racist comments which are not suitable for a player like him."
Desailly, who plays for AC Milan, continued: "He abused me and by saying those things he has gone down so much in my estimation."
But Stoichkov insisted: "It is normal for that to happen all over the pitch. If you took a microphone round every player, they would all be saying things like that."