Rashford: We will not give up

Speaking candidly after our 11-10 shoot-out loss, following a 1-1 draw with Villarreal in Gdansk, the England international was understandably gutted.

“The feeling inside is difficult to explain because at the end of the day we came here to win,” he told BT Sport.

“We’ve been working so hard all season and this was the opportunity to win a trophy and it didn’t happen for whatever reason. Maybe not now, we have to get rid of the disappointment first, but after that we need to look back at the game, see what we’ve done wrong, where we can improve and all I can say is the team will not give up.

“There’s no chance that the team gives up. The manager will not give up, he won’t allow us to give up and we will come next season with a bigger desire.”

He added: “For me the club, the desire, the hunger, the talent, the ability, the squad, we have everything to compete at the highest level. We just have to show [it], we have to show it to the world and show [it] to ourselves. Show why we belong in the top places, why we belong in finals like this, why we need to be winning finals like this.

“In the league we finished second, second doesn’t count for anything. It counts for nothing. Manchester City won the league, and we finished second but it means nothing. Villarreal win the Europa League and we finish second in it. For us it’s nothing.

“I don’t want to hear ‘oh, they were so close’ because it doesn’t mean anything. There’s one winner and there’s one loser and today we lost and we have to find out why and make sure that next time we don’t lose.”

Marcus explained why he believes the club will soon go that one step further and get back to claiming major honours.

“To win big trophies you have to show sacrifice. I could walk you into the dressing room, I could show you five, six, seven players and me as well who had injuries here, from September, the beginning of the season and we all stayed together as a unit and we fought to be successful for the club.

“This year it didn’t happen, but next year... we have to go away now and clear our heads and when we come back we start fresh. When Ole came in, there was a process and the players believe in this process and this isn’t the end of the process.”

The England international added: “Part of the process is having ups and having downs and we’ve had plenty of ups and downs every single season, but just because we lose today I promise you, I promise the fans, we don’t give up. There’s no chance that we give up.

“We come next season with more desire, more hunger and we have to do our best on the pitch. We have to give 110 per cent and if what I just said, the sacrifice, it means a lot because I know that in every club they don’t have this sacrifice.

“In the top clubs they have it, this is why the top clubs win the trophies and we are close. I promise we are close, but close is not good enough, we have to be there.”