Soccer

Marcus Rashford receives ‘at least 70 racial slurs’ on social media

Manchester United striker the target of social media abuse after Europa League final defeat

Marcus Rashford believes Manchester United can still win big trophies in the future despite losing Wednesday’s Europa League decider. Photograph: Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Jamie Jackson in Gdansk
Thu May 27 2021 - 09:05

Marcus Rashford was subjected to more racial abuse on his social media accounts following Manchester United's Europa League final defeat in Gdansk.

The England striker said he had received "at least 70 racial slurs" on social media in the wake of United's penalty shootout loss to Villarreal.

It is not the first time Rashford has been the target of social media abuse. In January, Greater Manchester police investigated racist comments sent to the 23-year-old and a number of other players. At the end of April, English football united for a four-day social media boycott to protest inaction over racial abuse on social media.

“Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am,” Rashford wrote after receiving abuse in January. “No one is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here.”

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Rashford said United’s status as Europa League losing finalists and Premier League runners-up meant “nothing” after Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side lost 11-10 on penalties to Villarreal in Gdansk.

“I don’t want to hear: ‘Oh, they were so close,’ because it doesn’t mean anything,” the forward told BT Sport. “There’s one winner and there’s one loser and we lost and we have to find out why and make sure that next time we don’t lose. In the league we finished second; second doesn’t count for anything. It counts for nothing.

"Manchester City won the league, and we finished second but it means nothing. Villarreal win the Europa League and we finished second in it. For us it's nothing.

“To win big trophies you have to show sacrifice. I could walk you into the dressing room, I could show you five, six, seven players and me as well who had injuries, from September, the beginning of the season and we all stayed together as a unit and we fought to be successful for the club.”

Rashford vowed United would return stronger, with Solskjær sure to motivate them. “We need to look back at the game, see what we’ve done wrong, where we can improve, and all I can say is the team will not give up,” Rashford said. “There’s no chance that the team gives up. The manager will not give up, he won’t allow us to give up and we will come next season with a bigger desire.

“For me the club, the desire, the hunger, the talent, the ability, the squad, we have everything to compete at the highest level. We just have to show [IT], we have to show it to the world and show [IT]to ourselves. Show why we belong in the top places, why we belong in finals like this, why we need to be winning finals like this. When Ole came in, there was a process and the players believe in this process and this isn’t the end of the process.” - Guardian

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