Football

Rashford to be fined £650,000 after partying at nightclub

No Comments

Manchester United striker, Marcus Rashford will be fined two weeks’ salaries worth £650,000 after he was caught partying in a nightclub on Thursday.

According to The Sun, Man United have now decided to slap Rashford with a hefty fine for partying in Northern Ireland.

The England international reported ill for training on Friday and subsequently missed Man United’s 4-2 win against Newport County on Sunday.

Man United blamed Rashford’s omission on ‘illness’ despite the player being spotted in a Belfast nightclub.

The Red Devils’ boss, Erik ten Hag has already insisted that he will ‘deal with’ the issue.

Ten Hag, however, refused to confirm if Rashford had lied to him or not over the nightclub visit.

Asked about Rashford’s absence after Man United’s 4-2 win against Newport County, Ten Hag said in his post-match press conference: “In what sense? He reported ill, for the rest it’s an internal matter, I’ll deal with it.”

Entertainment, Football, World News

Rashford, Martial score in United’s win at Melbourne

No Comments

Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford got on the scoresheet as Manchester United rallied from a goal down to beat Melbourne Victory 4-1 Friday and hand manager Erik ten Hag his second win since taking over.

It followed their 4-0 thumping of Liverpool in Bangkok on Tuesday when Jadon Sancho, Fred, Martial and Facundo Pellistri were on target.

A well-organised Victory were no walkover and shocked the English giants in front of 74,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a goal on the break in the fifth minute.

United clawed back with goals on the cusp of half-time from Scott McTominay and Martial before Rashford made it 3-1 with 12 minutes left and a Victory own goal capped the deserved win.

“It was good that we were able to recover,” said ten Hag. “It’s pre-season and we wanted to see how the team reacts.

“We went 1-0 behind but we stayed composed and finally just before half-time we scored twice.

“Their defence was really compact and it was difficult to create chances,” he added. “But a couple of times we got behind the defensive line and it was justified that we scored.”

United used 22 players against Liverpool and while Ten Hag largely stuck with the same starting line-up he switched it up at the break with 10 changes.

Captain and centre-back Harry Maguire started for the first time under the Dutchman after missing the Liverpool clash, slotting in alongside Victor Lindelof with Raphael Varane absent from the matchday squad.

David de Gea was also missing after picking up what appeared to be a muscle strain in Bangkok. With Dean Henderson on loan, it was left to back-up keeper Tom Heaton to play the full 90 minutes.

In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Martial again led the line flanked by Jadon Sancho and Antony Elanga.

But they were stunned by a quick counter-attack when Victory broke from their own penalty area with a pass down the right flank behind Luke Shaw finding Ben Folami.

With United wide open in defence, Folami squared the ball to Chris Ikonomidis who calmly tucked the ball past Heaton.

United slowed the pace and began to find rhythm with McTominay going close and Bruno Fernandes only denied by a great save from Melbourne keeper Paul Izzo.

Stroke of luck

They kept pressing but it took a stroke of luck to level the scores in the 43rd minute with McTominay’s shot taking a massive deflection.

A rattled Victory conceded another two minutes later with the lively Martial having a simple tap in after Elanga flicked on Diego Dalot’s cross.

Ten Hag shuffled his pack for the second half with Heaton the only survivor and Rashford taking the captain’s armband.

Fleet-footed Zidane Iqbal looked sharp and dangerous as United starved Victory of the ball and their fresher legs caused problems.

But the chances were few until Rashford stepped up in the 78th minute with a lovely finish after a penetrating ball through from Eric Bailly before the own goal sealed Victory’s misery.

Local fans did have something to cheer about when former Manchester United star Nani made his debut with three minutes left after being signed by the Australian side this week.

United also face Crystal Palace and Aston Villa in Australia before their Premier League campaign begins on August 7.

Football

Rashford sets new Champions League record with quick-fire hat-trick against RB Leipzig

No Comments

The England international came off the bench to produce a stunning performance that etched his name in the record books

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has become the fifth player to score a hat-trick as a substitute in the Champions League, with his 27 minutes on the pitch on Wednesday the fewest number played while also netting a treble in the competition’s history.

Rashford entered the field in the 63rd minute with the Red Devils a single goal ahead courtesy of Mason Greenwood’s opener, before scoring three times in his short time on the pitch to help the home side to a crushing 5-0 victory over RB Leipzig.

In doing so, he joined Kylian Mbappe, Walter Pandiani, Joseba Llorente and Uwe Rosler as the only players to come off the bench and bag three goals in Europe’s top club competition.

Rashford also matched a feat set by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as he became the second Manchester United player to score a hat-trick as a substitute, after the Norwegian did it against in the Premier League against Nottingham Forest in February 1999.

“I think the manager wanted me to up the tempo,” three-goal hero Rashford told BT Sport after the match. “That for us means going forward. There was definitely spaces there. We got Bruno [Fernandes] and Paul [Pogba] on the ball. We looked dangerous throughout and like we could score every time we went forward.

“It was a real team performance. The ones who started did well and the substitutes did well too. We can’t ask for much more than that in terms of the attitude and the intent to go and kill the game off. It worked in our favour.”

Leipzig came to Old Trafford with a high-tempo pressing game and did trouble United at times but it was the home side who went ahead after Pogba slid [Mason] Greenwood through, with the 19-year-old finishing clinically to score his first Champions League goal.

The match remained within Leipzig’s reach until Rashford’s introduction in the second half, with the England international running on to Bruno Fernandes’ pass and streaking through to score, with VAR correctly ruling he was in his own half when the pass came.

Only four minutes later, Rashford snared his second after United won possession high up the field, before Anthony Martial got on the scoresheet from the spot after being fouled in the penalty area.

Rashford put an exclamation mark next to his performance and earned the match ball with a third deep into stoppage time, as he deftly finished again from inside the box.

The 22-year-old has also been kicking goals off the field recently, with the striker being told he has done more to combat child poverty in the UK than any politician has in the last 25 years by Manchester councillor John Leech.

United – who host Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday – are now clear on top of their Champions League group with six points, with PSG and Leipzig three adrift.

Football

Rashford should never stick to just football, Man Utd team-mate Mata says

No Comments

The striker has earned plenty of plaudits – and criticism – for his intervention in British politics

Juan Mata has said his Manchester United team-mate Marcus Rashford should never stick to football, as some critics have told the striker amid his battle to help children.

In June, Rashford successfully lobbied the government to extend its policy of providing free meals for underprivileged children into the summer months through the school holidays.

Rashford hit out at the UK Government this week as a vote to extend free school meals over the holidays until Easter 2021 was defeated.

Mata has saluted the work that Rashford, who was recently awarded the MBE, has done and encouraged the striker to ignore his critics.

“It’s important for every player to realise the platform that we have, the message that we can get across and the amount of people that we can help,” Mata told the  Pitch to Post Preview podcast.

“I’m very proud of what Marcus has been doing. On the pitch, of course, we know how good he is and he is still performing very well but off the pitch also, the work he’s been doing over the last months has been great.

“He has improved the quality of life for so many kids in this country, which I’m sure everyone is proud of. His family should be proud of him, me, as a team-mate, and the club are very proud of him.

“And I think it’s important also to get the message that of course we are football players and our main focus is our professional life, which is training and playing football and being ready to perform but that doesn’t take away from having time to do these kind of things, which doesn’t take any focus away from our professional life.

“I’ve seen some people saying, Marcus should stick to playing football and things like that, which I don’t really agree with because he can do both, as he’s showing. And I’m very proud of what he’s done and he’s getting the reward he deserves.”

Mata also praised his old team-mate Frank Lampard ahead of Man Utd’s meeting with Chelsea on Saturday.  

“You could feel from the first day that I arrived to Chelsea’s dressing room that he was a very intelligent man,” Mata said.

“He knew a lot about football and he understood the game really well as a player. You could imagine that he would be a very good manager, like he’s showing now.”

Close Menu

Privacy Policy