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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Steven Railston

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford gives staunch defence of Bruno Fernandes amid criticism

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford has defended Bruno Fernandes after the midfielder received heavy criticism for the way he conducted himself during Sunday's mauling at Anfield.

Fernandes has captained United in the absence of Harry Maguire this season and he wore the armband again versus Liverpool. However, he endured arguably his worst afternoon since joining United over three years ago and was branded a 'disgrace' by former United player Gary Neville on co-commentary towards the end of the match.

Fernandes' role as de facto captain has been heavily discussed in the aftermath of the Anfield debacle and Rashford, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, was asked for his opinion on his teammate.

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"I love playing with Bruno, as you can imagine. I think for a forward like me, he's the perfect player to play with," Rashford said. "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 and the reality is that we can't be a well-organised team with just one leader being captain. He's done a lot for us in terms of bringing his leadership skills and that was from the moment he arrived.

"I don't have anything negative to say about Bruno. As the manager said, nobody is perfect. Sometimes you want to win so badly, you end up doing things that are a little bit out of character, but I 100 per cent support Bruno and I am behind him.

"As a team, we have to support him because he's a fantastic player and as the boss said, we wouldn't be in the position we're in if he wasn't playing games for us."

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