Marcus Rashford said it was “not nice” to see the Manchester City celebration in his hometown, but he will still applaud the City players who are also playing for England this week.
Less than 24 hours after the historic open-top bus tour to celebrate winning the treble, City’s five players chosen by England are anticipated to join the rest of the national team at St. George’s Park on Tuesday evening.
As preparations advance for Friday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Malta, Gareth Southgate has informed Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden, and Jack Grealish that he wants them to join the rest of their England team-mates as soon as possible.
Rashford, whose Manchester United side were beaten 2-1 in the FA Cup final by City, said of the celebration: “It’s not nice. But it’s football.
They best team who consistently play the best football are going to win the most trophies. They’ve won three so well done to them. We just move on and it’s up to them to keep it up. It’s up to us to catch them up.
“I’ll say congratulations. It’s football. It’s nothing new. Just look at Barcelona, Real Madrid a few years ago – they were consistently the best team so will win trophies.”
Asked whether watching the celebrations provided him with extra motivation to close the gap, Rashford said: “Yeah, 100 per cent.”
Rashford on player burnout: Schedule is mad
This international break comes less than three weeks before most clubs return for pre-season training meaning players joining up with their nations have limited time for a prolonged rest.
Pep Guardiola said in the wake of City’s win in Istanbul that football’s governing bodies need to put the welfare of players more at the centre of their thinking and Rashford also thinks there is a problem.
He said: “It’s evident. It’s mad that we’re playing teams that play once a week and we’re playing three a week from November until we got knocked out of the Europa League. It’s difficult but we’re used to doing it. That said I don’t think it’s right.
“In the early stages of my career I couldn’t make sense of it. Some managers have spoken out about it.
If one team is playing 60 games a year and another is playing 38 then there needs to be some time for the team playing those 20 extras games to recover and prepare.”