Europa League Final: Rashford Subjected to Vile Abuse Online after Villarreal Defeat

Europa League Final: Rashford Subjected to Vile Abuse Online after Villarreal Defeat

Babajide Orevba, Ibitoye Shittu
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:48 PM

- Rashford revealed he had received more than 70 abusive messages on social media after the Europa League penalty shootout defeat

- It is unclear which platform the abusers used to lash out at Rashford

- In April, Instagram announced a tool to enable users to filter out abusive messages automatically

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Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford was subjected to vile abuse on social media after the Europa League final defeat to Villarreal on Wednesday, May 26 in Gdansk, Poland.

Europa League Final: Rashford Subjected to Vile Abuse Online after Villareal Defeat
Rashford received at least 70 abusive messages from unscrupulous fans on social media. Photo by Maja Hitij.
Source: Getty Images

The England striker took to social media to disclose that he had received more than 70 abusive messages on social media in the wake of the penalty shootout loss.

At least 70 racial slurs on my social accounts counted so far," Rashford wrote on Twitter.

"For those working to make me feel any worse than I already do, good luck trying."

In a separate tweet, Rashford expressed his outrage at one of the culprits who directly abused him as he appeared to be a maths teacher.

"He teaches children. And knows that he can freely racially abuse without consequence."

According to BBC, the account has been deleted, and the club will report the abuse to the police.

This is not the first time Rashford has been a target of social media abuse.

In January 2021, police were involved in investigations after inappropriate comments were sent to Rashford and other United players, with the 23-year old issuing a powerful statement afterwards.

“It means nothing.”

Speaking after losing 10-11 in the penalty shootout, Rashford talked to BT Sport, where he insisted United’s status as Europa League’s losing finalists and runners up in the Premier League meant nothing.

“I don’t want to hear: ‘Oh, they were so close,’ because it doesn’t mean anything,” the forward told BT Sport. “There’s one winner and there’s one loser and we lost and we have to find out why and make sure that next time we don’t lose. In the league we finished second; second doesn’t count for anything. It counts for nothing. Manchester City won the league, and we finished second but it means nothing. Villarreal win the Europa League and we finished second in it. For us it’s nothing."

The 23-year old vowed his side would come back stronger despite the defeat.

“For me the club, the desire, the hunger, the talent, the ability, the squad, we have everything to compete at the highest level," he said.

Earlier, Legit.ng had reported how David De Gea took to his official Instagram page to thank former coach Sir Alex Ferguson for his support in the Europa League final.

Despite retiring from management, Sir Alex Ferguson has been spotted many times showing his support for Manchester United in their games both in England and in Europe.

Sir Alex Ferguson was on Wednesday night, May 26, at the stands to watch his former club Manchester United in their Europa League final game against Villarreal.

Authors
Babajide Orevba photo
Babajide Orevba
Babajide Orevba is a CAF accredited Nigerian journalist and HOD of the Local Desk with over 10 years of experience in media landscape.He studied NCE Political Science/Social Studies, AOCOED.
Ibitoye Shittu photo
Ibitoye Shittu
Editor- Local Desk
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