Manchester United provide Marcus Rashford latest - and rule player out of Newcastle United final

Manchester United are assessing Marcus Rashford ahead of tomorrow’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United (kick-off 4:30pm). The in-form forward sparked injury fears on Friday morning after he uploaded a photo of himself from the 2-1 Europa League play-off win over Barcelona and included a bandaged head emoji.

Rashford was replaced by Scott McTominay in the 88th minute, shortly after receiving treatment following a challenge from Barca defender Ronald Araujo. Not many people suspected an injury until the England international uploaded his cryptic Instagram story.

Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag was asked if Rashford was injured at Friday’s pre-match press conference, and his response was equally unclear. “I don’t know,” said the Dutchman. “The players are now coming in. We have to do investigations. Straight after the game, you can’t give a 100 per-cent diagnosis. Let’s do the medical work. We have to wait.”

Ten Hag, did, however, rule Anthony Martial out of the cup final at Wembley. The Frenchman has struggled to remain fit throughout the 2022-23 campaign - missing 25 matches in total.

On facing Newcastle, ten Hag said: “I think it’s a great team with a clear philosophy on how they want to play the game, with intensity.

“They do really well, they’re an annoying team to play against so we have to find a way to win. They try to annoy you, so we have to make sure we play our game and focus on our game. It was a good feeling (to beat Barcelona). We were really together and it was good. (It was a) great opponent, one of the best teams in Europe, a typical way of play and if you can beat them it’s great.

“Sunday is a challenge again, totally different, but it is also great to play them, to find a way to play against different styles, different systems, and of course you want to beat them, to find a good blend and strategy to beat opponents.”