Comparing Man City's treble winners to Man Utd's class of 1999
Marcus Rashford has admitted that seeing Manchester City win the treble was 'not nice', but claims he and his Manchester United team-mates will use their noisy neighbours' success as a source of motivation to come back stronger.
City clawed back the deficit on Arsenal in the Premier League and pipped Man Utd in the FA Cup final before scrapping to a hard-fought win over Inter Milan to clinch the Champions League on Saturday night.
Doing so meant a domestic and continental silverware treble for City boss Pep Guardiola - the likes of which had not been seen in England since the Red Devils managed it in 1999. The feat will be even more painful for Rashford and United, given that they had the chance to stop City in their tracks at Wembley earlier this month.
"It is not nice but it is football," Rashford told reporters. "The best team that is consistently playing the best football is going to win the most trophies.
Marcus Rashford admits that seeing Man City win the treble was 'not nice' (Image: GETTY)
"They have managed to win three this year and well done to them and we just move on now. It is up to the rest of us to catch them up." Rashford now faces the potentially awkward encounter of linking up with City's bleary-eyed treble winners on England duty.
When asked what he planned to say to the likes of John Stones, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish, Rashford responded: "Just congratulations. It is football. It is nothing new. Look at Barcelona years ago, look at Real Madrid - they are the most consistent teams and are going to win trophies."
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City's international stars have been allowed to report late to England duty this time around as they embarked on a boozed-up tour of Manchester with all three trophies on show this week. Grealish in particular has made headlines for his celebratory antics as rain poured down on the Sky Blues' open-top bus parade.
They will have to pick themselves up and dust themselves down ahead of the Three Lions' upcoming matches against Malta and North Macedonia, however, and Rashford believes that the City stars' big-game experience could prove vital in the UEFA Euro qualifiers and beyond.
Jack Grealish has been a key figure in Man City's treble celebrations (Image: Getty)
"I think it is a massive positive," he said. "We have got players that are experienced on massive occasions and it is only going to help us as a nation to hopefully get over the line in a major tournament."
Rashford will hope to channel his frustration over City's treble win towards putting on a good show for his country, having racked up an impressive haul of 30 goals in all competitions for Man Utd in 2022/23.