Marcus Rashford Defends Jesse Lingard Over Snapchat Video as Man Utd Prepare for Upcoming Season

​Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has come to the defense of Jesse Lingard following the controversy surrounding his teammate's Snapchat video.

The 2018/19 season was a torrid one for United, with Jose Mourinho departing in December as his feud with Paul Pogba and the club's ownership created an air of toxicity around Old Trafford. Despite a mid-season resurgence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,  the side won just one of their last seven league games as they slumped to a sixth-place finish.

Man Utd have already been busy in the transfer market, bringing in Swansea's Daniel James, before adding Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka to their ranks for £50m. 

Having recently signed a new contract himself, Rashford is in a positive frame of mind, a feeling that he says has spread around the changing room.

"The mood now is how it should be, everyone is positive. Last season wasn't good enough. But we're in much better condition than we were this time last year," Rashford told the ​Telegraph.

Speaking of positivity, Rashford came to the defense of Lingard, who landed himself in hot water with Solskjaer after ​posting a leud video to Snapchat. 

"You always want to score as many goals as you possibly can." @MarcusRashford discusses his aims and ambitions for 2019/20... #MUFC #MUTOUR pic.twitter.com/BbMNwwQXVB

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 10, 2019

“I’ve not spoken to the manager about it but from what I’ve seen of it, people have to understand that he was enjoying his holiday and it was a mistake so there is not really much I can say about that.”

In order to move back in to title contention, Manchester United will have to close the gap to last season's pace-setters Manchester City and Liverpool. Rashford admits that this will be a tough ask, but one that the team is ready to take on.

When asked if City and Liverpool’s success hurt him, Rashford said: “For me, yeah. That just puts an even bigger challenge to us. We never shy away from a challenge, we have to move forward as a team.”

Source : 90min