Ralf Rangnick on Marcus Rashford's recent poor form
This time last year, Manchester United lost the Europa League final to Villarreal. The Red Devils were defeated on penalties, with David De Gea missing the crucial spot-kick. And Marcus Rashford’s comments in the aftermath of the loss, it would be fair to say, have aged terribly given their woeful season.
Manchester United lost to Villarreal after the game went the distance.
Gerard Moreno put the La Liga side ahead in the 29th minute, with Edinson Cavani then netting to force extra-time.
In the shootout, every candidate stepped up and scored besides De Gea - whose agonising miss gave Unai Emery’s team the trophy.
And Rashford, in the aftermath of the contest, insisted United were on the cusp of achieving success under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“For me the club, the desire, the hunger, the talent, the ability, the squad, we have everything to compete at the highest level,” he said at the time.
“We just have to show [it], we have to show it to the world and show [it] to ourselves.
Man Utd news: Marcus Rashford issued a bold statement after last year's Europa League final defeat (Image: GETTY)
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“Show why we belong in the top places, why we belong in finals like this, why we need to be winning finals like this.
“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 finish second in it. For us it’s nothing.
“I don’t want to hear ‘oh, they were so close’ because it doesn’t mean anything. There’s one winner and there’s one loser and today we lost and we have to find out why and make sure that next time we don’t lose.”
He added: “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 here, from September, the beginning of the season and we all stayed together as a unit and we fought to be successful for the club.