A star striker in the middle of a night club – Manchester United fought as a guest of the lower league team

Marcus Rashford called in sick on Friday morning. The uproar was ready when The Athletic reported on the same day that Rashford had been seen in a Belfast nightclub on the night between Thursday and Friday, in other words, just hours before the training session.

The United players were given a week off after the January 14 game against Tottenham. This week, Rashford trained with the squad from Monday to Wednesday before traveling to Belfast to join his former United academy teammate Ro-Shaun Williams , who has moved to Larne.

According to The Athletic, Rashford was seen on the night in Belfast on both Wednesday and Thursday. He returned to Manchester by private plane on Friday morning.

The two-goal lead disappeared.

Rashford wasn’t even on the bench when United visited Newport County on Sunday night. The stake was a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

United seemed to easily walk over their opponent playing in League Two, i.e. in the fourth tier of the series. Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo found the net for the hosts in less than a quarter of an hour .

For Mainoo, 18, the hit was his first as a United representative team player in an official match.

At half an hour, cupromanticism reared its head. Bryn Morris shot the ball into United’s net from distance through Lisandro Martinez’s header and the post.

Indeed, Rodney Parade went wild right at the start of the second half. Will Evans flashed the equalizer in front of Raphaël Varane .

United pulled off a disaster. Antony scored the third United goal after just over an hour. Rasmus Höjlund put an end to the hosts’ last dreams of a continuation in extra time.

– We have to understand that the FA Cup is our only chance to win something (this spring), skipper Fernandes summed up for the BBC.

– We know how much the cup means to our fans, the club and the whole country. We want to get to the final and win.

In the fifth round, United will face the winner of the replayed pair Bristol City–Nottingham Forest.

The fifth round will be played at the end of February. There are 16 more teams.