Tuesday 13 July 2021
After a penalty shot in the final
Rashford is clearly responsive to racist attacks
Marcus Rashford does not score on penalties against Italy, England loses the European Championship final. This is followed by legitimate criticism, but also a variety of racist insults. The Manchester United striker now explains how he feels at the moment of his miss and since then.
After his missed penalty in the European Championship final and the resulting racist insults, the English national soccer player Marcus Rashford has revealed his feelings and shown himself combative. “I can listen to criticism of my performance all day, my penalty wasn’t good enough,” said the 23-year-old in a long Twitter statement with: “But I’ll never apologize for who I am or where I’m from. I come back stronger.”
Rashford, like the still-Dortmunders Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, missed a penalty on Sunday in the final against Italy (3: 2 nE). Subsequently, the three missed shooters were targeted on social media by serious racist insults by a minority of small-minded football fans.
Rashford described his emotional state before and after his penalty kick in great detail on Monday evening. “I went into the final with a lack of confidence. I used to protect myself from penalties but something didn’t feel right,” said the Manchester United striker.
To him it feels like “like I’ve let my teammates down, like I’ve let everyone down”. The scenes would “play back and forth in my head. There’s probably no word that explains how this feels. Finale. 55 years old. One penalty. History. All I can say is sorry.”
In addition to the wild insults and threats, numerous celebrities and fans jumped to the side of the trio. The news to him was “positively overwhelming,” said Rashford. The fact that people in his home town of Withington in the south of Manchester covered the mural of him smeared in the night with messages of love “brought me close to tears”.
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