Rashford: I love playing with Bruno

Fernandes, like many others, was criticised following our defeat at Anfield last weekend, but he has performed superbly for the Reds so far this season, as United have won the Carabao Cup, sit third in the Premier League and remain active in the Europa League and the FA Cup.

A vital cog in our success on the field, our no.8 has worn the captain's armband in the majority of matches this season, while also being deployed both in the no.10 and out wide by Erik ten Hag.

During the pre-match press conference ahead of Real Betis's visit to Old Trafford on Thursday (20:00 GMT), Rashford was keen to outline his admiration for the Portugal international, stating how having a player of Bruno's quality around him is extremely beneficial.

'"I love playing with Bruno, as you can imagine," began Marcus. "For a forward like me, he’s the perfect player to play with.

"I think he’s been a good leader for us, even when he’s not been captain, which is always a good sign. He’s helped other players become better leaders.

"The reality of it is, we can’t be a well organised team with just one leader being the captain. He has done a lot for us in terms of bringing leadership skills in and that was from the moment he arrived."

Amid the criticism Fernandes received in the aftermath of the defeat at Liverpool, Rashford maintained that he and his team-mates will support him, as the Reds look to bounce back against Real Betis on Thursday.

"I don’t have anything negative to say about Bruno," Marcus added. "Like the manager said, no-one is perfect. Sometimes you want to win so bad you end up doing things that are a little bit out of character. I 100 per cent support Bruno and I am behind him.

"As a team we have to support him because he is a fantastic player and like the boss said, we wouldn’t be in the position we are in if he wasn’t playing games for us."