Marcus Rashford has once again sadly been on the receiving end of some awful racial abuse.
The Manchester United forward said after last night’s dramatic Europa League final defeat to Villarreal – where the Red Devils lost 11-10 on penalties – that he had received plenty of racist messages on social media.
Rashford tweeted: “‘At least 70 racial slurs on my social accounts counted so far. For those working to make me feel any worse than I already do, good luck trying.”
Heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, who is a massive United fan, swiftly offered his support to the winger against such horrific behaviour.
Fury replied to Rashford’s initial tweet saying: “Keep fighting the good fight @MarcusRashford, I stand with you my brother. Racism needs to [be] eradicated [from] all facets of life and sports. We go again, never give up #spartan.”
Later, Rashford revealed one particularly disgusting message he received after the final, saying that racist messages were coming from a teacher with an open social media profile.
"I’m more outraged that one of the abusers that left a mountain of monkey emojis in my DM is a maths teacher with an open profile,” wrote the 23-year-old on Twitter. “He teaches children!! And knows that he can freely racially abuse without consequence…”
In a cagey final, Rashford missed a big opportunity to put Man Utd ahead in the second half, but spurned the chance wide.
The match then went to penalties, with goalkeeper David de Gea missing the 22nd spot-kick of the night to confirm Villarreal as Europa League winners for the first time in their history.
After the game, a Man Utd spokesperson said: “Everyone at Manchester United is disgusted by the online hate and abuse aimed at Marcus and other players on social media.
“There is simply no excuse for it and we utterly condemn it.
“Manchester United has zero tolerance of any form of racism or discrimination and we encourage people to report it through manutd.com.
“We also urge social media platforms and regulatory authorities to strengthen measures to prevent this disgusting behaviour.”
Fury has been a long-time supporter of Rashford’s work off the pitch – helping children from less-privileged backgrounds and pressurising the UK government to provide free school meals during the pandemic.
Both athletes were nominated for last year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award – which was eventually won by Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton.
In the build-up to the event, Fury believed Rashford was worthy of a knighthood.
“I think he’s done a fantastic job,” he told Hits Radio.
“I think they should give him a knighthood, make him Sir Marcus Rashford. I also think, Sports Personality of the Year. Everything.
“Fantastic job and credit to him.”