Marcus Rashford has hit back at claims by former Manchester United player Owen Hargreaves that he was ‘fuming’ after being left out of the starting XI against Tottenham.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer went with three at the back and started experienced duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani upfront at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening.
Despite switching to a 3-5-2 formation, Solskjaer made only two changes to the starting line-up which was battered 5-0 against Liverpool.
Rashford and Mason Greenwood came out of the side and Cavani and the returning Raphael Varane came into the line-up.
Solskjaer’s decision paid off as Ronaldo and Cavani combined to devastating effect for United’s second after Ronaldo’s spectacular volley opened the scoring.
With his side leading 2-0 against Spurs and with a half an eye on tomorrow’s trip to Atalanta, Solskjaer brought on Rashford in place of Ronaldo with 20 minutes remaining.
United’s number 10 completed the 3-0 rout with a clinical finish, but Hargreaves claimed the 24-year-old’s celebration showed his frustration to being left on the bench.
Speaking via the Daily Mail, Hargreaves said: “I think you could see that in his celebration, he was fuming.
“But when two legends of the game are playing ahead of you it’s hard to complain in a sense.
“He [Solskjaer] is never going to drop Ronaldo, he needed somebody else in there and Cavani was fabulous last season. He probably deserved to start sooner.”
Marcus Rashford has today responded to Hargreaves’ claims with a passionate response, claiming his celebration was ‘pure relief’ after a ‘hard week’.
It was only last week that Paul Pogba came out on social media to hit back at claims that he had ignored Solskjaer after the Liverpool game, following his red card.
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