Marcus Rashford could not bring himself to watch Manchester City lift the Champions League – but the Manchester United star says club rivalries are left at the door with England thanks to the group’s “strong bond”.
Erik ten Hag’s arrival sparked a marked improvement in the red half of Manchester this season, with February’s Carabao Cup triumph followed up by a third-placed finish in the Premier League.
But City stopped United ending their campaign on a high at Wembley by winning the first all-Manchester FA Cup final as they stayed on track to replicate their rivals’ historic 1999 treble triumph.
Pep Guardiola’s men did just that by beating Inter Milan in Saturday’s Champions League final – a match Rashford watched on TV, although there was only so much he could stomach.
Put to the forward that Trent Alexander-Arnold turned off the TV when United won the FA Cup as he could not bear to watch Liverpool’s rivals lift silverware, Rashford said: “It’s exactly the same.
“I like watching football, I like watching the best games so that’s what I did.
“But after they win the game, I don’t need to watch them celebrating and all that stuff, so yeah, TV off!”
City’s treble understandably sticks in the craw but there appears little chance of club rivalries impacting England like they did with previous generations.
“It is going to be funny,” Rashford said of the conversations he was expecting with the quintet on international duty.
“But, like I said, it’s congratulations to them and, for me, they deserved it, they played the best football this year.
“There’s not much more to say about it, really. The talking’s done on the pitch and they did really well this year.”
Asked if it is a strength of the England squad to go from bantering about club matters to playing well together, Rashford said: “Yeah, I think definitely that’s a part of it.
“But there’s a strong bond in this squad and there has been regardless of which players come in and that’s down to the environment.
“There’s not much more I can put it down to, so we’re looking forward to having them back here.
“They’re obviously all really good players and we need them if we want our squad to be as strong as possible.”
While club allegiances will not put a spoke in England’s wheel, Rashford does not hide from questions about United’s place in the pecking order.
For so long the dominant force in English football, the 20-time league champions are now playing second fiddle in their own city.
On the desire to be top dogs once more, Rashford said: “I think that was always the aim regardless of their success this year or the previous years.
“Let’s be honest, it’s not anything new – the only thing that’s new is that they managed to win all three.
“They are a very good team and it’s not just us that are trying to catch up to them, it’s pretty much every team as well.
“Is it a challenge? Yeah, but we can’t shy away from it. We have to face it and do our best next season.”
Rashford says United’s players and staff spoke in the dressing room after the FA Cup final about the need to kick on again as the 2023-24 campaign quickly comes into focus.
There are only 23 days between Rashford, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw playing in England’s final June qualifier against North Macedonia at Old Trafford on Monday and United playing their first pre-season match.
It is a far cry from the full summer of preparation Rashford enjoyed last year, which provided a platform for him to bounce back from the most challenging campaign of his career.
The rejuvenated 25-year-old went onto score a career best 30 goals in all competitions under Ten Hag, who the United forward credits for changing the mindset of the group and helping him find his fire again.
“He came in and he wanted to win,” Rashford said. “I feel like at times we have lacked that ambition, as I’ve said before.
“He wasn’t caring about getting into the top four, doing any of that – he just wanted to win trophies and when you strive for the best sometimes you are going to fall short as we did in areas this season.
“But you have to look at the outcome. We managed to win a trophy and get back into the Champions League spots, get to another final and it’s definitely a progression from the previous year, or couple of years before.
“He just managed to motivate me and just relight the flame that was missing.”
Ten Hag’s United have put things in place to close the gap to City next season, but the interminable takeover saga continues to provide a dark, uncertain cloud over the Old Trafford giants.
Asked if it is easy to block out the constant noise about it, Rashford said: “For me, yeah, because I am here with the national team, like I don’t want to be worrying about what’s going on in Manchester and stuff like that.
“For me, it’s just the importance on these next two games and getting the job done while also doing it as well as we can.”
Journeyman Joselu takes long, winding road to Champions League final
Real Madrid striker Joselu was in dreamland after he came on in the dying moments of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday and turned the game on its head with two goals to snatch a stunning victory.
Joselu, whose journeyman career has included spells at clubs such as Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hannover 96, Stoke City and Newcastle United, only touched the ball a few times in their 2-1 second-leg win, but it was a night he is likely to remember for a long time.
He pounced on a rare mistake by Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer, stabbing the ball into the net to equalise for Madrid in the 88th minute, and just under three minutes later, he volleyed them into the lead from a cross by Antonio Rudiger.
"I don't know anything about being a hero, but I'm very happy... You can imagine," he said. "It was incredible, something spectacular. This team never gives up, it's in its blood to fight to the end and that's what we've done.
"You always dream of this kind of performance, but not even my most beautiful dreams are as big as what happened today."
On loan from second-division side Espanyol, Joselu's journey to becoming the semi-final hero has been long and winding in a career involving a dozen clubs across Europe.
He began his career at Celta Vigo before being bought in 2009 by Madrid, where he excelled in their B team but rarely made it to the first team.
He was sold to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim in 2012 and then loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt before joining Hannover 96 in 2014.
In 2015, he moved to Premier League side Stoke City, playing 27 times and scoring four goals, before spending two seasons at Newcastle United. He returned to Spain with Alaves, where he scored 36 times in three seasons.
He signed as a free agent with Espanyol in the summer of 2022, and a year later was loaned to Madrid and has scored nine goals in 32 appearances this season in LaLiga.
Joselu, born in Stuttgart, Germany, made his debut for Spain aged 33, coming off the bench against Norway to score twice in two minutes in March 2023.
"I don’t think Joselu will be sleeping much tonight, he’ll be useless in training tomorrow!" team-mate Jude Bellingham said. "He deserves it all, he’s been an amazing member of the squad all season, and it’s his night."
Tuchel: Champions League semi-final defeat 'tough to accept'
Thomas Tuchel reflects on "tough to accept" defeat after Real Madrid came from behind to win 2-1 and knock Bayern Munich out of the Champions League on Wednesday.
After a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the semi-final at the Allianz Arena, Bayern took the lead in the 68th minute through Alphonso Davies.
However, Joselu came off the bench to score twice in three minutes to send the LaLiga champions to the Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern.
"It hurts. It’ll take a while to recover, but on the one hand, it’s a loss where we left it all out on the pitch,” Tuchel told DAZN after the game.
"Of course, it’s tough to accept. It’s part of reality. No regrets. But on the other, there were too many injuries, a few too many substitutions, too many cramps.
"We started with a front four and by the end they were all off the pitch. And then Manu, who had been exceptional in saving us all night, made a mistake he wouldn’t make in another 100 years."
In stoppage time, Matthijs de Ligt had the ball in the back of the net, but the referee had already blown his whistle after the linesman raised his flag, so VAR could not intervene.
The replays showed that the original decision was closer than first thought, and Tuchel was frustrated with how the situation was handled.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Tuchel said: "We are almost through, it's almost there and there was a very unusual mistake from our best player for the equaliser, then we conceded the second one in stoppage time.
"Then we scored one and there was a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee. It feels like a betrayal in the end. There was a huge fight, we left everything on the pitch, and we were almost there. Now we say congratulations to Real Madrid.
"The linesman says sorry, but that does not help. To raise the flag in a moment like this... The referee sees we get the second ball, and we get the shot - it's a very, very bad decision. It's against the rules. It's a disaster. It's hard to swallow, but that's the way it is."
Manuel Neuer made five saves in the game and looked equal to Madrid’s threat until he spilled the ball in the build-up to Joselu’s first goal.
"Anyone who’s ever played football knows how I’m feeling right now," he told DAZN.
"That we’ve been knocked out in the closing stages, having led 1-0 until the 88th minute, it’s extremely bitter.
"We’d taken one step to London; we saw ourselves in the final, and now I’m lost for words."
Super-sub Joselu strikes again as comeback kings Madrid pounce
Joselu was the hero for Real Madrid as he scored twice off the bench to send them through to the Champions League final.
The Spaniard’s late brace secured Madrid’s comeback after Alphonso Davies had given the German side the lead, securing a 2-1 victory on the night, and a 4-3 win on aggregate to set up a meeting with Borussia Dortmund on June 1.
With only 10 minutes plus stoppage time to make an impact, Joselu made his time on the pitch count.
He scored with both his shots, becoming the oldest substitute to score a brace in a knockout game in the Champions League.
The forward is Madrid’s highest scorer in the competition this season with five goals, netting three of those after coming off the bench.
It is also the second time he has scored a double against a German team in the Champions League this campaign, getting his other against Union Berlin in the group stages.
Bayern were left to rue a late lapse in concentration that saw them concede twice in the space of two minutes and 44 seconds.
After Davies, who has been heavily linked with Los Blancos, became the first Canadian player to score in the knockout stages of the Champions League, with what was his maiden goal in the competition, it was a mistake that led to Madrid's equaliser.
It is the first time since April 2021 against Paris Saint-Germain that Manuel Neuer made an error leading to an opposition goal in the competition.
Bayern have now lost 11 Champions League matches against Madrid, the most one side has lost against another in the competition’s history.
It was always going to be a tough game for Thomas Tuchel’s side even after taking the lead – Madrid have won four matches despite conceding first in the Champions League this season, the most by a side in a single campaign since they won the trophy in 2016-17 (five).
Los Blancos have reached an 18th final in the European Cup/Champions League, but this is the first time they will play the showcase game at Wembley or in England altogether.
Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti has reached his sixth Champions League final, two more than any other coach in the history of the competition.
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