Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford looks set to be out for the foreseeable future after he sustained a back injury during Wednesday night’s FA Cup replay against Wolves.
Rashford was originally rested for the game, but was substituted on by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer midway through the second half, a decision Solskjaer admitted had “backfired”.
The 22-year-old had been on the pitch for only 16 minutes before he was hauled off, as United beat Wolves 1-0. It serves as a huge blow for the Red Devils, with the forward arguably being United’s most integral player.
The England international has scored 22 goals for club and country this season, and Solskjaer seemed downbeat when asked about his availability for the blockbuster clash against Liverpool on Sunday.
“He’ll be tested in the next few days – we have to see for Sunday,” he said via BBC Sport.
“I didn’t want to play him. I think he got a knock, a knee or something, in his back, but he’s been struggling for a little while.
“That’s why we’ve kept him away [from starting against Wolves], but we needed the win.”
Asked if the decision to play Rashford backfired, Solskjaer replied: “He was involved in the goal, so that was a positive, but it backfired.
“He’s a quick healer and he’ll play through some pain, definitely, if he’s capable and it’s not a bad, bad injury, but we’ve seen that he’s struggled lately.
“But that’s been more when he’s been tired. He wasn’t on long enough to be tired so it might be something that just happened there and then.
“He’s been absolutely top this season so we’ll do anything and everything we can to get him fit for Sunday. If he’s not, then we’ll play without him.”
Rashford himself took to Twitter to confirm the injury, apologising to fans in the process.
Never want to feel like I’ve let my teammates, the club and most importantly the fans down so did my very best to carry on tonight and was gutted to come off.
Top work from the lads to get into the next round ?? pic.twitter.com/ZLpxiqhtq3
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) January 15, 2020