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Mourinho responds to Rashford’s penalty claims

Jose Mourinho, Marcus Rashford, Manchester United
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The former Manchester United boss has responded to Rashford’s claims that he taught the forward how to win more penalties.

Check the stats was Jose Mourinho’s response after Marcus Rashford suggested he started Manchester United’s increase in the number of penalty decisions won in their favor.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp recently took aim at the number of penalties United have won ahead of Sunday’s showdown between the two clubs at Anfield. Tottenham’s Mourinho and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard have also remarked on this.

But Rashford added a new spin to the debate by revealing the advice Mourinho gave during his spell at Old Trafford.

“I remember when Jose was manager, there were five or six times I can remember where I should’ve had a penalty,” Rashford told the Football Writers’ Association.

“Jose ended up saying to me if you’re not savvy about the way you do it then you’re not going to get it.

“After that we started to get a few – in terms of development, you have to learn it and understand it.”

In response to Rashford’s comments, Mourinho replied: “Look, first of all, Liverpool versus Manchester United is a big match that doesn’t need me to make it bigger.

“Or it doesn’t need me to do any headlines before such a big match that I know means so much for both clubs and supporters’ population, so I’ll leave comments for later not for now.

“If you feel the need to write something about it, do it in a very simple way. Stats, go to Opta, stats, go to my history as a manager in my more or less 10 Premier League seasons. Compare numbers and take your conclusions.”

What do the Opta stats say?

According to Goal, United won 19 penalties during Mourinho’s two-and-a-half-year spell at Old Trafford. Seven came in 2016/17, six in 2017/18, and another six in 2018/19 before his dismissal in December 2018.

Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, meanwhile, the Red Devils won 22 penalties in the 2019/20 campaign. They’ve since won another six penalties in only 17 Premier League games this term, and 11 overall in all competitions.

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