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MOURINHO HELPED ME WIN MORE PENALTIES, SAYS MAN UNITED’S RASHFORD

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Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford said his former manager Jose Mourinho had helped him become more “savvy” in the box to win penalties.

The England international’s comments follow some debate over how many penalties his team are awarded, with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp saying United had more spot kicks in two years than he had in five and a half at Liverpool.

Rashford said he had been denied several penalty claims while working under Mourinho and that the Portuguese had told him he had to become more aware in the box.

“Jose said, ‘If you’re not savvy about the way you do it, then you are not going to get given it’,” he told reporters at the Football Writers’ Association 2021 Tribute Award on Thursday (Jan 14).

Mourinho left United in 2018 and since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first league match in December of that year they have been awarded 27 Premier League penalties – more than any other team, according to Sky Sports.

“As a forward line, we want to go and score goals,” Rashford added.

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“There is no way you are going to let somebody take the ball off you, so for me it is just a case of us wanting to score goals and the teams wanting to defend goals – and you know, penalties can happen.”

United are top of the Premier League table, three points clear of reigning champions Liverpool with the clubs set to meet at Anfield on Sunday.

-Reuters

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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