Man United's Rashford asks critics to 'have a bit more humanity'

The England forward has struggled this season, scoring just five times for his under-performing club side - in stark contrast to last season, when he scored a career-best 30 goals for Manchester United. Rashford has also faced criticism over his off-field conduct.

Reports in late January suggested Rashford had spent an evening at a Belfast nightclub before missing training with United. And United manager Erik ten Hag branded Rashford's decision to go to a separate nightclub event after October's 3-0 derby defeat by Manchester City "unacceptable".

But Rashford, writing in 'The Players' Tribune' on Thursday, said he wanted to put his side of the story. "So 99 percent of the time, I can ignore the noise," he said. "But sometimes, certain lines get crossed, and I can't help but want people to just understand who I am as a person".

He added he understands the media "game". "They're not really writing about me," he said. "It's like they're writing about this character, 'Marcus Rashford'. It can't just be about me as a 26-year-old lad on a night out, or a lad getting a parking ticket.

"It's got to be about how much my car costs, guessing my weekly salary, my jewellery or even my tattoos. It's got to be about my body language, and questioning my morals, and speculating about my family, and my football future. There's a tone to it that you don't get with all footballers. Let's just leave it at that."

Rashford said he felt some of the criticism goes back to the coronavirus pandemic when he launched a high-profile campaign to tackle child food poverty.

"For some reason, that seemed to rub certain people the wrong way," he said. "It seems like they've been waiting for me to have a human moment so they can point the finger and say, 'See?