How football reacted to Rashford's statement
Marcus Rashford's dignified and heartfelt statement about his Euro 2020 penalty miss and the racist abuse he subsequently received has drawn an admiring response from numerous people within the game.
The Manchester United forward posted his eloquent message on Monday evening, less than 24 hours after the agonising outcome to this summer's tournament unfolded at Wembley Stadium.
By midday on Tuesday, his tweet had received almost a million likes and had been retweeted more than 200,000 times. It was also commented on by more than 35,000 of his followers, as fans came out in force to endorse the statement you can read in our separate story.
Rashford reacts to the Euro 2020 final
ArticleRead the deeply personal statement that Marcus has posted to fans on social media.
United team-mate Bruno Fernandes, who played for Portugal in the earlier rounds of Euro 2020, tweeted: "You should only be proud of what you achieved in this tournament! Hold your head up high, bro! You're an example for everyone on and off the pitch."
You should only be proud of what you achieved in this tournament! Hold your head up high, bro! 🤜🏼🤛🏿
— Bruno Fernandes (@B_Fernandes8) July 13, 2021
You’re an example for everyone on and off the pitch ❤️ https://t.co/rKjNuGBq1v
Bruno's bolstering message followed supportive comments from other Reds including Paul Pogba - "the world of football is proud of you" - and David De Gea - 'see you soon at home amigo" - as the game rallied around one of its favourite sons.
Meanwhile, Rashford's Instagram post received a flood of heart emojis from United team-mates such as Diogo Dalot, Mason Greenwood, Dean Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay, Alex Telles and Donny van de Beek. Eric Bailly added: "Big Rashi - head up, my little bro."
England's Euro 2020 squad were represented by the likes of Declan Rice, who commented: "You're an inspiration, brother. We are with you."
Meanwhile, another of Rashford's fellow Reds, Lee Grant, spoke about his team-mate's character and addressed the issue of racism in football when he appeared as a special guest on The Debate, our weekly opinion show.
"Everyone within the Manchester United football family wants to offer Marcus their support," said the goalkeeper.
Lee Grant joins The Debate
Special guest Lee Grant discusses England, penalties, pre-season and more with The Debate lads...
"But that absolutely doesn't mean that he, or anybody for that matter, should be subjected to the abuse that we see consistently. Actually, it's the same all the way down the pyramid, even in grassroots football on a Sunday morning. I don't care what level you play at, you shouldn't be exposed to that kind of thing. It's just not acceptable in any walk of life.
"So we all need to support Marcus but we also need to do more to push the issue higher up the chain as well, to try to eradicate racism from our game. It's not going to be easy but it's something we all need to be mindful of."