Courtesy: Outlook India
United lost 11-10 to Villarreal on penalties following a marathon shoot-out after the sides could not be split at the conclusion of extra time, with the score 1-1 in Gdansk. Marcus Rashford had a poor display during the match which subjected him to a lot of criticism and even racial abuse.
Here are some of his quotes post-game:
“The feeling inside is difficult to explain.”
“We came here to win. We’ve been working so hard all season and this was the opportunity to win a trophy and it didn’t happen for whatever reason.”
“We have to get rid of the disappointment and look back at the game and see what we did wrong. The team will not give up – no chance. The manager won’t allow us to give up. We will come next season with bigger desire.”
“People say a lot about Man United going downhill, blah, blah, blah, blah but for me, the club, desire, hunger, talent, ability, the squad, we have everything to compete at the highest level.”
“We just have to show it to the world and ourselves, show why we belong in the top places and why we need to win finals like this.”
“Second doesn’t count for nothing. Manchester City wins the league, we finished second. Doesn’t mean anything. Villarreal won the Europa League, we finished second.”
“For us it’s nothing. I don’t want to hear ‘they were so close’ because it means nothing. One winner, one loser. Today we lost. We have to find out why and make sure next time we don’t lose.”
Criticism is a part of football, however, racially abusing players is an offence and the people blurting these slurs should be condemned. Marcus Rashford had this to say after receiving many racially abusive comments online:
“At least 70 racial slurs on my social accounts counted so far,” Rashford tweeted.
“For those working to make me feel any worse than I already do, good luck trying.”
United tweeted after the game players were subjected to “disgraceful racist abuse” and urged users to report any form of abuse or discrimination through their online reporting tool.
“It’s a sad display from the fans. A host of players at Premier League clubs have been targeted in the past few months, including United’s Anthony Martial, Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, Liverpool’s Trent-Alexander Arnold and Sadio Mane, and Chelsea’s Reece James. #saynotoracism”
I’m more outraged that one of the abusers that left a mountain of monkey emojis in my DM is a maths teacher with an open profile. He teaches children!! And knows that he can freely racially abuse without consequence…
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) May 27, 2021