Wayne Rooney sends crystal clear message to Marcus Rashford ahead of FA Cup after England snub

Manchester United winger Marcus Rashford has been told he has a 'point to prove' by club legend and former England captain Wayne Rooney after being left out of the Three Lions preliminary squad for the European Championships this summer.

The 26-year-old was not included in Gareth Southgate's provisional 33-man list which will be cut down to 26 before the competition starts in mid-June, despite having made every major tournament squad for the Three Lions since 2016. Rashford has only scored eight goals from 42 appearances across all competitions this campaign, a far cry away from his career-high of 30 from last season.

However, the star was selected by manager Erik ten Hag to start in their FA Cup final against bitter rivals Manchester City ahead of youngster Amad Diallo, leading to many to point out the fact Rashford could've been included simply for his positive personal record against Pep Guardiola's side in the past.

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Former England international and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer was one of those, as he claimed that Rashford has to fuel himself with the inherent annoyance he must feel after missing out of the major tournament. Speaking on BBC's coverage of the final, he said: "He scored a great goal didn't he in the last Manchester derby but he's been left out of the England squad [for the 2024 Euros] so I think he's definitely got a point to prove. He needs a reaction, he needs to get angry and try to prove a point."

Rooney then chimed in, agreeing with Shearer that Rashford must use this platform to make Southgate worry about his selection choices. He said: "Yeah, I think Marcus has a point to prove, obviously this is a big, big game. He always seems to do very well against Manchester City.

"His record is always very good, so I'm delighted to see him get back into the starting XI. I would've liked to see [Rasmus] Hojlund in there [alongside him], just to occupy those two centre-backs a bit more for him."

Ahead of what could be his final match as Manchester United manager, Ten Hag was adamant his side were solely focused on their task at hand rather than any background noise surrounding his future. Speaking ahead of the game earlier this week, he claimed his players are motivated to reverse the outcome of last year's final.

"I think so, yes," he said in his pre-match press conference. "That’s the truth. We will be in a very different place if we win on Saturday because we will be in Europe and we will have another trophy.

"But still, three finals in two seasons is very good, I would say, because this club when I entered it was not in a good state, absolutely not.

"I think we improved a lot and even when you consider all the injuries we’ve had, it’s a horrible season for us. Absolutely that has to change and we have to make our messages this summer to change this."