Marcus Rashford wishes to balance between football and CSR initiatives

Manchester [UK], January 15 : Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford revealed that while he was out for four months due to an injury at the beginning of the year, it was the charity work that kept the forward going while he wasn't playing football.
Rashford had sustained a back injury in the second half of a match against the Wolves in January 2020 and was sidelined for close to five months. Soon the coronavirus pandemic took the sporting world by storm and football across the globe was brought to a halt in March.
However, Rashford saw an opportunity to change the world for the better and found something positive during the worrying and uncertain times.
"I think it's just finding the positives in bad situations. The beginning of the year wasn't good for me, I got injured and then I was going to be out for four or five months and then Covid happened and then as I was coming back to fitness we weren't sure if the league was going to continue or not and all these things are happening in my head in that period and then when we went into lockdown it just gave me the chance to switch off really, to concentrate on something else," said Rashford.
"That's what I've done really, try to find the positive in a negative situation and try to help people. At the time it's one that you have this image of what you want it to look like, what type of environment you want these kids to grow up in," he further said.
"In the beginning, you hope this image that you're thinking of happens as quickly as possible but as you know things always have bumps in the way so it's important not to give up throughout those times so whilst we weren't playing football and I was injured at the time, that was the only thing keeping me going," Rashford added.
The 23-year-old striker feels his charity work widened the people's horizon which resulted in more people coming together to lend a hand. He also received numerous awards and accolades to recognise his acts of selflessness, including an MBE and an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester.
"It's a nice feeling but the importance of it is bigger than the feeling it gives me because it actually widened people's views on what I was trying to do and people took more notice of it because of that and you know that has a knock on effect because more people are willing to help, the people that are in need of help know where to get it so it's had a big influence on the children, more so than me," said Rashford
Talking about balancing football and his new initiative, Rashford said, "I think for me it's two separate things. They are two things that I have a lot of desire and feel strongly about and I always said from the beginning that if I feel that I can do both then why not try and do it and that's it basically, it's all about focus."
"If I can focus on football when I'm at football and still do my analysis work when I'm at home and still have time to be involved helping these children then you know that's what I'd want, that's what I'd choose to do," he added.
The England striker became the third-youngest player to net 50 Premier League goals for Manchester United last month. Rashford wants to hone his skills in order to get better and help his team in winning more games.
"I think it's a nice milestone, but for me it's about looking forward and what's next and I have to keep that mentality in order to keep improving and keep getting better and keep helping the team because that's what it's about so I'm happy that I've managed to reach that but I look ahead now and want to get to 60, 70, 80 and do my best to help the team, " Rashford signed off.
Manchester United defeated Burnley 1-0 in the Premier League on Wednesday and with this, they toppled Liverpool to claim the top spot in the standings.
They will now lock horns with Liverpool on Sunday. Catch all the live action on Star Sports 3 along with a regular feed on Star Sports Select and Disney+ Hotstar at 10 PM.