Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford said things were tough for him at the club when Jose Mourinho was the coach but Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped him mentally during the tough time.
Mourinho was appointed as Manchester United coach in 2016, less than one year after he was sacked by Chelsea football club.
While he was at the club, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of the first footballers he signed. During his time at Old Trafford, Mourinho won the UEFA Europa League, League Cup and FA Community Shield in his first season, before he was sacked in 2018.
During Mourinho’s good days at Manchester United, Marcus Rashford struggled to win the heart of the coach despite scoring 28 goals and recording 20 assists under him.
Mourinho preferred to use Rashford out wide while he used Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Romelu Lukaku at the middle where the England International likes to operate from. He sometimes benched him or bring him into a match as a substitute.
Contrary to such trying times, the 22-year-old Manchester United star is having the best time of his football career under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the successor of Mourinho – scoring a career-best 19 goals in all competitions in the interrupted 2019-2020 season.
Marcus Rashford Got Better through tough times
While speaking on United Podcast, Rashford said his tough days under Mourinho didn’t have a negative impact on him but made him a better footballer.
“It was tough but I think when you look back on it in five or six years, they’re the moments that give you that mental toughness,” he said.
“As an all-round player, I’ve improved a lot and a lot of it is down to those two years under Jose.
“We had ups and downs. When I look back at it, it was a tough period but definitely a period that made me a better player.”
Marcus Rashford Hails Zlatan
Rashford also applauded the mentality of Swedish football legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic who he said helped him through his tough time under Mourinho.
“His mentality was beyond anything I’d ever played with before,” he said. “He didn’t care what anyone would say to him or what anyone was saying about him.
“In terms of his mentality, he was key to my development, especially when Jose was there because he was someone who had played under him before and he knew you had to be a certain type of way to survive under him.”
