Peter Schmeichel was pleased to see Marcus Rashford’s disgruntled reaction to being substituted while Manchester United were battling for the win on Sunday.
The forward left the fold in the 88th minute, being replaced by Antony while the scoreline was tied at 2-2.
Rashford had already done his bit once by scoring the Reds’ second of the game to retake the lead in the 40th minute, however, this was counter-acted almost immediately after the interval when Rodrigo Bentancur equalised in the 46th minute.
It marked a fourth goal of the season for Rashford in what’s been a significantly underwhelming campaign for the 26-year-old thus far, especially in comparison to last term, when he was in red-hot form and netted 30 in total for the first time in his career.
With the Euros on the horizon this year, players of participating nations will be well aware that their places are at risk if they aren’t fit and firing from now until the summer. Rashford, in particular, faces a plethora of competition for not only a starting role but also a call-up to England’s scintillating squad of young, exhilarating talent.
Rashford praised by Schmeichel
Alas, he was left irate at Erik ten Hag’s decision to withdraw him in the closing stages of the game, and Schmeichel found his reaction somewhat respectable.
“The substitution doesn’t make sense to me whatsoever and I was very, very happy to see that reaction,” the former goalkeeper told Premier League Productions, as cited by the Metro. “I know it sounds a bit silly that I’m saying that, but I was very, very happy because like too many people who care for Manchester United, we’ve started to question his desire, does he really want to be there? We’ve seen games where his body language has been so bad.
“For him in a game, I thought he played okay today. There was something different about him today, I think the little link-up with [Rasmus] Hojlund was brilliant, it created two goals. For him to have that reaction after being taken off was brilliant, it was nice to see a little bit of, ‘Why has he taken me off?’ I like that.”
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