‏Man Utd 1 — 2 Crystal Palace 
by Simon Williams 
at Old Trafford

MARCUS RASHFORD received racial abuse on social media following his penalty miss in Manchester United’s 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

‏With United a goal down following Jordan Ayew’s first half strike, all eyes watched to see who would step up to take the spot-kick following the controversy surrounding Paul Pogba’s miss in the 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers last Monday.

‏As referee Paul Tierney award the penalty after Scott McTominay was tripped inside the box, Anthony Martial handed the ball to Rashford, who scored from the spot in United’s opening weekend game against Chelsea. 

The England international stepped up but his effort crashed off the inside of the post.

‏Daniel James looked like he had snatched a point for the Red Devils with a delicious curling effort with a minute of normal time remaining but Patrick van Aanholt’s effort in the 93rd minute gave Palace their first victory at Old Trafford since 1989.

‏But once again the football was overshadowed as Rashford became the latest player to suffer racist abuse following a penalty miss after Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Yakou Meite of Reading were targeted in recent weeks.

‏And Rashford was quick to defend fellow teammate Pogba on Twitter following the abuse he received in the aftermath of the game against Wolves last week.

‏The Old Trafford faithful showed their support for the Frenchman with a “United Against Racism” banner that was unveiled as the players warmed up on Saturday.

‏United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also hit out against the Twitter trolls, condemning the online abuse directed at his players.

‏He said: “It needs to stop. I’m just lost for words if it keeps going. 

“We keep having all these campaigns, like ‘No to Racism,’ and it still keeps hiding behind fake identities. It’s just crazy that we are talking about this in 2019.”