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Jose Mourinho has launched an impassioned defence of Marcus Rashford's playing time at Manchester United in the last two years.

Rashford scored twice in England's internationals against Spain and Switzerland over the last week and his form prompted Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher to suggest he 'leaves' United over a supposed lack of game-time.

Romelu Lukaku is firmly established as United's first-choice centre forward and Alexis Sanchez is Mourinho's main left winger, while Rashford has struggled in his stints on the right flank. Despite not being a starter at United, Rashford has never been dropped from a matchday squad by Mourinho and started the Europa League final last year and May's FA Cup final.

Mourinho ridiculed certain journalists' 'obsession' with his use of Rashford and insisted the 20-year-old's situation was better than Dominic Solanke's at Liverpool.

"Speaking about Marcus, I think I can expect that Sunday I'm going to be highly criticised for not playing him tomorrow," Mourinho said. "Because some of the boys are really obsessed with me and some of them have, I think a problem with some compulsive lies, so I can expect that Sunday some of them will wake up in the morning and always the first thing they think that comes to their mind is Jose Mourinho.

"So I can imagine on Sunday I am going to be criticised for not playing Marcus but is not my fault, he's suspended, so probably you should remind them he is suspended and cannot play.

"Performances with England, of course I'm happy, he played well, competed well, he score and especially in a period where he comes with some sadness after his suspension and it was very good that he did that.

"If you don't mind to lose a couple of minutes, I'm going to do something not for you but the United fans and I think I hold myself to the United fans and for them I am going to spend two minutes with you."

"On the season 16-17 Marcus Rashford played 32 Premier League matches, 11 Europa League matches, including the final, three FA Cup matches, six League Cup matches including the final and the Community Shield. He had 53 appearances but if you want to take to the minutes of play, he played 3068 and if you wan to divide that by 90 minutes of the matches, he played 34.2 matches of 90 minutes in 16-17.

"In 17-18, he played 35 Premier League matches, eight in Champions League, five in FA Cup including the final, three League Cup matches and the European Super Cup final. He played a total of 52 matches with 2,676 minutes, if you divide that by 90, it gives 29.7 matches, so with me, in two seasons, he had 105 appearances, 5744 minutes, 63.7 matches of 90 minutes, including five finals, so the people that is speaking about these minutes, I think they are a bit confused

"Marcus Rashford is not Dominic Solanke [of Liverpool], not [Chelsea's] Ruben Loftus-Cheek, not Dominic Calvert-Lewin [at Everton], is Marcus Rashford, Manchester United player, with an incredible number of appearances and an incredible number of minutes played at the highest level in the best possible competitions, so Manchester United supporters, for you and just for you, to know what we are doing with Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, that's what we are doing here."

"Is not a perception," Mourinho replied when it was suggested he was 'irritated'. "Some of the persons, everybody knows they have double salaries, they work also for the clubs and of course they are not independent and they conduct things in the direction they want, that's obvious, human, is natural. Not ethical but I accept.

"The ones that wake up in the morning and the first thing that comes into their mind is Jose Mourinho and Manchester United, I feel sorry for them because there are much more interesting things to wake up and to be happy in the morning than to be speaking about us and about football. But for the Manchester United supporters is important they have the right idea of how things are in reality.

"But the most important thing of all is that the kid is a good kid, a good player, knows what Manchester United did for him, starting in the academy, then Mr Van Gaal's support, my support, the club's support, new contract, new shirt [number], and selected every single match.

"Since I was here, he was never one day out of selection because of my decision, only if injured or suspended, he was never ever out of a selection, so he knows and that's the most important thing.

"But media is very important and is very important Manchester United supporters know the truth, that's why I'm going so specific about these numbers."

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