Marcus Rashford shouldn't feel the need to apologise
Street artist Akse P19 repairs the mural of Manchester United striker and England player Marcus Rashford on the wall of the Coffee House Cafe on Copson Street, Withington, which was vandalised after the England football team lost the UEFA Euro 2021 final.Â
Last summer, as you, Marcus, prepared for the biggest game of your professional life against Italy in the European Championship final, a nation held its breath. How it chose to hold its breath depended on a myriad of factors, varying according to personal preference, from individual levels of patriotism, to love of the game, to how much alcohol and drugs were ingested. Kids waved tiny England flags and had their faces painted with St George's crosses. Lifelong football fans put club rivalries aside and dared to dream of football coming home again. A country, divided by post-Brexit angst and fatigued by the suffocating weight of a global pandemic, was finally coming together as the eyes of the world turned to London.
