Headlines featuring Marcus Rashford have been almost universally positive up to now.
But the Manchester United prodigy is finally experiencing some negative press after being accused of diving to win a penalty for his side in their 1-1 draw with Swansea on Sunday afternoon.
Towards the end of the first half at Old Trafford, Rashford hit the deck over onrushing Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
Referee Neil Swarbrick pointed to the spot, although he appeared to have no clear sight of the incident, and Wayne Rooney made no mistake in converting.
Rashford was involved in a controversial penalty incident https://t.co/iAcKaCIHA2
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) April 30, 2017
Swans boss Paul Clement was in no doubt that it was the wrong call from the officials.
“The replays showed the player deceived the referee, there’s no other way to look at it,” Clement said.
“You could say he’s dangled a leg to get the contact, but he’s down before that, he’s down before there’s any kind of contact and the keeper pulled out of it.
“I’m not saying cheat. I’m saying deceived. It’s the word I’ve chosen. I would use cheat another time, on this occasion I’m saying he deceived him.
“Lukasz was furious. He said ‘I’ve gone down to get hands on the ball, I can see can’t get it, I’ve come away from it, and he’s gone down before the contact’.”
Rashford’s manager, Jose Mourinho, defended the young forward who apparently had claimed that it was indeed a foul that had felled him in the penalty area.
“I don’t have a view because I didn’t watch,” Mourinho said. “And I have Marcus’ opinion and he said that the goalkeeper touched him.”
A report on Rashford’s defence of going to ground was outright rejected by United legend Gary Neville, who felt that there was absolutely no need to justify the incident.
He Doesn't need to justify himself for winning his team a penalty ! https://t.co/x5b6AXbBLe
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 1, 2017
It was then put to Neville that perhaps he was behaving in a biased manner considering that it was a player from his former club that benefited from the contentious decision and that a rival player like Manchester City’s Leroy Sane, who was also accused of going down too easily on Sunday, would not receive such a sympathetic response from the Sky Sports pundit.
Accusations of favouritism were also levelled at Neville due to the fact that Rashford is English but the legendary right-back had an answer for that too.
Neville’s stance was as clear as it was unwavering. And he wasn’t in the mood to elaborate in too much detail.
