Marcus Rashford reveals scale of racist abuse after Europa League final defeat

The 23-year-old said he had received “at least 70 racial slurs” in the wake of United’s penalty shootout loss to Villarreal on Wednesday night.

Rashford said he received a torrent of racist abuse when he opened up his phone, revealing that one such slur came in a direct message from a person claiming to be a maths teacher.

United later tweeted to say their players had been subjected to “disgraceful racist abuse”.

Rashford wrote on Twitter: “At least 70 racial slurs on my social accounts counted so far. For those working to make me feel any worse than I already do, good luck trying.

“I’m more outraged that one of the abusers that left a mountain of monkey emojis in my DM is a maths teacher with an open profile. He teaches children!! And knows that he can freely racially abuse without consequence…”

Rashford also sent a thumbs up emoji to a user who said of the racist abuse: “You deserve it man you are awful.

In a statement, Manchester United said they were “disgusted by the online hate and abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford and other players on social media after last night’s game” and that they “utterly condemn it”.

Greater Manchester Police assistant chief constable Chris Sykes said yesterday afternoon: “We are aware of a number of racially aggravated social media posts made yesterday evening towards numerous Manchester United players.

“We are working through the posts from yesterday, which originate from countries across the world as well as the UK, to investigate these crimes. Tackling hate crime remains a priority for GMP. We take these reports very seriously and are working with our partners to ensure those responsible are identified.”

It is not the first time Rashford has been the victim of abuse on social media. In January, GMP investigated racist comments sent to him and several other players.