Marcus Rashford has received the support of former Manchester United team-mates – including a member of the infamous ‘bomb squad’ that formed in the summer – on the back of his Champions League exploits.
The England forward continues to enjoy life at new club Barcelona, and scored his first goals for the club on Thursday evening in their 2-1 Champions League victory over Newcastle.
He scored a stunning second goal upon his return to England, firing an effort from distance into the top corner to silence the home fans and, at the time, make it 2-0 to the LaLiga champions.
His performance was a sign that things may be starting to look up for the 27-year-old, who endured a rough end to his time with Manchester United after being banished to the bomb squad by boss Ruben Amorim.
He wasn’t alone, with other players such as Jadon Sancho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia all told they had no future at United and that they should try and find other clubs to join.
All but Malacia did that, and a group of United players past and present took to social media to congratulate Rashford on his St James’ Park heroics on Thursday evening.
Marcus Rashford has received the support of former Manchester United team-mates on the back of his Champions League exploits
Both Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes took to Instagram to congratulate the forward
United captain Bruno Fernandes, who played for the Red Devils alongside Rashford 215 times, shared a snap of the second goal of the night to his 9.7million Instagram followers with three shocked emojis, tagging his former team-mate in the post.
The post caused a stir online, with some fans suggesting he had gone against Amorim follow the Portuguese’s decision to exile the England man from his squad.
One fan posted: ‘This guy is a snake and it’s obvious he doesn’t like Amorim and wants him out,’ while another added: ‘This just shows the injustice Rashford faced from Amorim in the locker room.’
Fernandes, though, hasn’t been one to shy away from vocally supporting his former team-mates, having also liked Sancho’s post about making his Aston Villa debut as recently as last week.
Sancho, meanwhile, who has essentially taken Rashford’s place at Villa after the latter’s loan spell in the Midlands last season, shared a video of Rashford’s first goal – a fine header – to his 10.4m followers.
He too tagged his former team-mate in the post, and included a fire and salute emoji. Rashford shared both posts to his own Instagram story, showing off his feat to his 20.4m followers.
Despite still being contracted to the club, Sancho hasn’t played for United since August 2024 in the Community Shield, having publicly fallen out with former manager Erik ten Hag and then failed to win over Amorim.
He was placed in the bomb squad, which trained away from the first team in the summer, after Chelsea paid £5m not to make his loan move permanent for £25m.
Sancho and Rashford were both told in the summer that they didn’t have a future at the club
Rashford was exiled by Ruben Amorim, who is under pressure and may be regretting his call
Both Sancho and Morgan Rogers were among the stars who commented on Rashford’s post
To his profile, meanwhile, Rashford shared a post of his celebrations, captioning it: ‘Great way to kick off the @championsleague,’ alongside a plethora of emojis.
Nicky Butt, who was a member of United’s Treble-winning squad in 2019, said on BBC: ‘If I was Ruben Amorim, I’d be thinking, “What have I done?”‘
After getting a laugh, he added: ‘Manchester United are obviously struggling. Players need to move on if it’s not going well, you need to be loved and Marcus definitely needs an arm around him and to be loved.
‘When he is, he shows what he can do.’
Football stars also flooded to the comments of the post, with Sancho adding a clap and fire emoji.
Former Aston Villa and current England team-mate Morgan Rogers, meanwhile, added: ‘Wowwww,’ alongside three fire emojis.
In August, Sancho took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a picture with Malacia and Antony – along with injured defender Lisandro Martinez, captioning the post: ‘my brothers!’.
