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Rob Dawson, Correspondent
Ruben Amorim insisted he was right to drop Marcus Rashford from the Manchester United squad despite going out of the Carabao Cup at the quarterfinal stage following a 4-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
Rashford was left out of Amorim’s squad for the second game in a row after he was also dropped for the 2-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday.
The 27-year-old suggested in an interview on Tuesday that he wants to leave the club. Asked afterwards whether Spurs’ victory made him rethink his stance on the England forward, Amorim said he stood by his decision.
“I feel that I do the right thing for the team so it’s never a mistake,” said the United head coach. “We have to make a selection. I think it wasn’t a mistake because I’m always doing the best for the team in my way of seeing things.”
Without Rashford in the squad, United briefly recovered from 3-0 down to make it 3-2 thanks to two errors from goalkeeper Fraser Forster. Spurs made it 4-2 before Jonny Evans scored a late consolation and Ange Postecoglou’s side held on to book a semifinal against Liverpool.
Amorim, meanwhile, was left to rue an eight-minute period at the start of the second half during which Spurs scored twice.
“We control the possession I think,” Amorim said. “We were not the best team in all of the game, but for most of the parts I think we were the best team. I think we disconnect for eight minutes and it is really hard to recover from that. The lads did a great job to recover.
“We still had time to win the game, but the fourth goal was really hard for us. In the end it was not enough and we’re out of the cup.”
It was a difficult night for both goalkeepers with United’s No.2 Altay Bayindir — handed a rare start ahead of André Onana — at fault for two goals. Forster’s mistakes were more embarrassing, particularly the second when he took too long with a back pass and was charged down by Amad Diallo.
“He is disappointed because he was outstanding for us,” said Postecoglou. “Even before then in the first half I thought he was really good with his feet, he found some great solutions.
“The first one probably affected his confidence a little bit and he lost a bit of belief and the second one compounded it. But he is a big boy and he is another one who has stood up for us big time in this period. I can’t speak highly enough of this group of players.”
Tottenham host Liverpool in their semifinal first leg on the weekend of Jan. 6, while Newcastle will travel to face Arsenal at The Emirates.