Marcus Rashford described the Manchester City party in his hometown as “not nice” to see, but will still congratulate the City players also representing England this week.
City’s five players selected by England are expected to join up with the rest of the national squad at St George’s Park on Tuesday evening – less than 24 hours after the historic open-top bus tour to celebrate winning the treble.
Gareth Southgate has told Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish that he wants them alongside the rest of their England team-mates as soon as possible as preparations build towards Friday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Malta.
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.”
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 is 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.” — Sky Sports
