'Innocent' England fans pepper-sprayed by police in chaotic scenes at Molineux

England supporters were subjected to pepper spray during the nation's humiliating 4-0 defeat by Hungary on Tuesday evening.

The Three Lions suffered their biggest home loss since 1928 at Molineux after goals from form Zsolt Nagy, Daniel Gazdag and a brace from Roland Sallai. It leaves England bottom of their Nations League group with two games remaining, against Germany and Italy.

Tuesday's clash was the first England game to played at Molineux in front of a capacity crowd since 1956. Gareth Southgate's side played out a goalless Nations League draw against Italy in front of 3,000 children at Wolves ' stadium on Saturday evening.

The Italy fixture was 'behind-closed-doors' as punishment by UEFA for the chaotic scenes at the Euro 2020 final last July, which England lost on penalties to Italy. Some fans ran riot at Wembley that day - and there was more drama at Molineux on Tuesday evening.

In footage obtained by The Sun, an England supporter was pepper-sprayed on the Molineux concourse by police as he was being arrested. He was being dragged away by several officers when the pepper spray was used, with dozens of people surrounding them.

One supporter, who was standing behind the arrested man when the pepper spray was used, was seen wincing after it indirectly caught him in the face. Another fan also appeared to be in distress from the spray seconds after it was unleashed by the officer.

"I saw a little girl with tears streaming down her face and fans left coughing with nausea and throats stinging," England fan Craig Smith, who filmed the incident, told The Sun.

He added: "Pepper spray in a crowded space like that among so many innocent fans was so unnecessary. He started struggling after they moved in but there were at least four cops detaining him and the chemical affected dozens of people."

West Midlands police have since apologised to others affected by the spray. "A 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a fellow England supporter and assaulting a police officer," said a spokesperson. "Due to the level of aggression it was necessary to use Pava spray. We apologise if anyone in the immediate vicinity was affected."

It is the second time inside a month football that fans have been pepper-sprayed by police at a major football game. Liverpool and Real Madrid supporters were subjected to tear gas and pepper spray by French police at last month's Champions League final in Paris.

"The disturbance wasn't to do with Madrid fans or Liverpool fans," one Liverpool fan told the ECHO. "What I saw was groups of young lads from Paris having a go at the police and charging the police There was about two or three groups, about 20 or 30 of them, and they were the ones causing trouble. They were throwing things at the police and then the police charged and used pepper sprays."

The supporter added: "There was another surge of these local Paris lads and the police came at us again and they threw a pepper bomb and it actually hit my ankle. I jumped up and threw myself to the floor right in front of my lad. I fell over and hit the deck, my lad was in tears and he couldn't breathe properly. We also had really sore eyes."