Following Manchester United’s shock win over local rivals Manchester City, manager Ruben Amorim has revealed the truth behind his decision to drop star winger Marcus Rashford.
Despite taking the lead through Josko Gvardiol, City fell apart at the end of their Premier League meeting with United, allowing two quickfire goals at the end of the match from Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo, securing a 2-1 win for United.
But the biggest drama came before kickoff as United wingers Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were both left out of the squad by manager Amorim.
And now, Amorim has spoken out to reveal the real reason why he decided to keep Rashford out of the match even though he was available for selection.
Immediately after the team news was confirmed, Amorim addressed the absence of Rashford and Garnacho, saying it was simply due to an evaluation of their performances in training and their lifestyles off of the pitch.
But now, the Portuguese manager has provided more context on why he dropped the English winger, revealing the truth behind his decision.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Amorim hit back at claims in the media that Rashford has been dropped due to issues with his behaviour or another disciplinary matter.
He revealed: “It’s important to say why: it was not a disciplinary thing. Next week, next game, new life, they are fighting for their places.
“If it was disciplinary issue I would say that here and it would be a bigger problem but it’s not that.
“For me, it’s important: the performance in training, the performance in game, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with teammates, the way you push your teammates, everything is important in our context in the beginning of something when when we want to change a lot of things.
Amad Diallo scored United’s winning goal on Sunday. (Image: Getty)
“When people in the club are losing their jobs, we have to push our standards incredibly high and for that they have to fight for a place in the team.
“And today the team proved we can leave anyone out of the squad and manage to win if you play together.”
It’s possible that Rashford’s reaction after being taken off early during United’s 2-1 victory over Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League perhaps further explains why he didn’t feature on Sunday.