Rashford role in equaliser was interference, says City’s Akanji

Manchester — Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji said Marcus Rashford was clearly interfering with play in the lead-up to Manchester United’s equaliser in their Premier League match on Saturday.

City defenders tracked Rashford’s run from an offside position as he chased the ball for 30m before Bruno Fernandes stepped in at the last second to score.

The linesman raised his flag for offside but referee Stuart Attwell awarded the goal, allowing United to mount a comeback and win 2-1.

“Fernandes tells him he’s not in an offside position and he can shoot.

“That’s when he stopped and for me, it’s a clear interference,” Akanji told Viaplay. “I understand he didn’t touch the ball.

“But what I always thought the rule was if you chase the ball and your intention is to play the ball … it’s clearly offside, but the ref decided it’s not.”

United’s Luke Shaw told Sky Sports that the City defender covering Rashford was not able to reach the ball.

“Rashy obviously made the run but I think the player that was with him, I don’t think was going to be able to get the ball anyway,” he said.

“I don’t think he actually did interfere at all. I think Rashy was clever to know that Bruno was there and leave the ball. For me, it was a goal.”

Former English referees chief Keith Hackett said there was “no doubt” Rashford was interfering with an opponent.

“To allow Bruno Fernandes’s goal to stand is total nonsense. If we do not call that offside, then the offside law is an ass,” he wrote in The Telegraph.

“They will argue that he [Rashford] has to touch the ball to be active. The law is awful and requires a complete rewrite.”

City coach Pep Guardiola was also not happy with the VAR.

“They [United] are an incredible transitional team,” Guardiola said. “In the first half, we started really well, controlled really well, but we were not in the right positions enough.

“Rashford is offside, Bruno is not offside, the question is interference.

“When one player on the edge of the 18-yard box shoots and one player is in front of the keeper but doesn’t touch the ball, it is disallowed all the time.

“The decision is they didn’t believe Rashford was intervening in this stadium.

“This is Old Trafford, we have to play much better, like Anfield, we have to do better.” 

Meanwhile, United coach Erik ten Hag labelled Rashford “unstoppable”.

Rashford scored for the ninth successive home match in all competitions to snatch a late win for United over their city rivals, moving Ten Hag’s team to within a point of the champions in the standings.

Having been booed by his own supporters last season, Rashford’s turnaround has been remarkable, with his close-range finish earning United another victory to continue their overall renaissance.

Rashford took a knock in the first half, but carried on after the break, with Ten Hag revealing the in-form 25-year-old played through the pain in the second period to guide his team to a much-celebrated success.

“He learnt already, he knows that in top football you have to suffer, you have to sacrifice, you have your painful moments, especially a player like he is, he is unstoppable,” Ten Hag said.

“Opponents will be tough to stop him, you have to deal with it, but he is capable of dealing with it.

“He keeps focusing on his chances, and in the end, he got rewarded.”

United have now won nine consecutive matches in all competitions, their longest run since a sequence of nine between December and January 2016-17 under Jose Mourinho. — Reuters