Man United boss Jose Mourinho has defended his treatment of Marcus Rashford, stating that supporters need to understand the reality of his situation.
Rashford has been a fixture in the headlines over the last fortnight, firstly for being sent-off in United’s last outing against Burnley and secondly for his goalscoring exploits with England during the international break.
The 20-year-old scored in a 2-1 defeat at Wembley against Spain last Saturday before also finding the net against Switzerland on Tuesday night, which secured a 1-0 win for the Three Lions.
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At club level, the young striker has found regular playing time hard to come by under Mourinho, who prefers to use Romelu Lukaku as the focal point up front for the team and start the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial ahead of the Englishman in wide positions.
Rashford’s frustrations seemingly boiled over at Turf-Moor in a headbutting incident with Phil Bardsley, which earned him a three-match suspension for the Red Devil’s upcoming games against Watford, Wolves and West Ham.
Mourinho has come out fighting in response to those questioning his treatment of Rashford in Friday’s press conference with an extraordinary rant, insisting that he is giving the forward plenty of opportunities to perform on the pitch, while also urging fans to be realistic about his chances of starting week in week out.
As per the Manchester Evening News, the 55-year-old told reporters: “Speaking about Marcus, I think I can expect that Sunday I’m going to be highly criticised for not playing him tomorrow because some of the boys are really obsessed with me and some of them have a problem I think with some compulsive lies so I can expect that Sunday some of them will wake up in the morning as always the first thing they think that comes to their minds is Jose Mourinho.
“So I can imagine on Sunday I am going to be criticised for not playing Marcus but it is not my fault. He’s suspended so probably you should remind them he is suspended and cannot play.
“If you don’t mind to lose a couple of minutes with me I’m going to do something not for you but the United fans because I think I hold myself to the United fans and for them I am going to spend two minutes with you.”
Mourinho reeled off a number of stats concerning Rashford’s time at Old Trafford, before finishing bluntly: “Marcus Rashford is not Dominic Solanke, not Ruben Loftus-Cheek not Dominic Calvert Lewin, is Marcus Rashford, Man United player, with an incredible number of appearances and an incredible number of mins played at the highest level in the best possible competitions, so Manchester United supporters, for you and just for you, to know what we are doing with Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, that’s what we are doing here.”