Marcus Rashford has insisted that the pain of the past has driven him to make up for lost time at Manchester United by returning to form in style over the course of this season. The England ace has been firing on all cylinders for the Red Devils over the last few months and will be hoping to produce another inspired performance in this weekend's Carabao Cup final if he is passed fit to face Newcastle at Wembley Stadium.

Rashford has enjoyed a relatively injury-free campaign this time around after playing through the pain barrier in recent years due to a stress fracture in his shoulder, which he initially suffered back in 2020. The United marksman has since opened up on the toll it took on his mental and physical health in a candid interview with the Manchester Evening News but is determined to keep his struggles firmly behind him as he looks to continue his fine form for the Red Devils.

"To be honest, I don't think anyone - apart from the people at the club - they don't know how long I was dealing with those issues and they probably won't know until I say," said Rashford.

"But it wasn't just one season, it was a period of time where every day was tough and you have to just sacrifice and I've always been one to try and be out on the pitch as much as I possibly can. And for me, that's where I get the happiness.

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"If I'm out injured, I'm not happy. I'm dealing with the pain and I'm not happy. So I would rather try and deal with the pain as long as I can perform and still help the team, I'd always choose to do that.

"At times, you have to pull yourself out and if you don't, then you have to get people around you to pull yourself out and that's what happened with the shoulder situation last season. It was the right time to get it fixed, I recovered quite quickly from that.

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