Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has urged Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to keep their race for the club's top goalscorer this season friendly.
The United boss is wary of their healthy rivalry spilling over as it did at Liverpool last season. Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were both chasing similar records for the Red Devils’ arch-rivals.
It led to Mane throwing a strop in a game away at Burnley when Salah failed to play him in. Jurgen Klopp then had to deal with questions about a possible split between the two players at Anfield.
On the goalscoring rivalry, Solskjaer said:
“There’s no battle between them. You see how Anthony and Marcus play together — they are always willing to give each other the gift of an open goal.
"For me, there can never be a battle between players within a team. We have one common cause: to win. If I ever sense players playing for themselves, their own accolades and personal awards, I won’t have them in the team. It’s simple.
"I don’t want egos. It can’t be about one player thinking he is going to score more goals than someone else. If you win as a team, it doesn’t matter if you have scored 15 goals or 30. It only matters that you have contributed.
"Ruud van Nistelrooy was very focused on his goals. He’d come off miserable after a 4-0 win if he hadn’t scored. But he was a team player. You never saw Ruud take a shot when he should have passed."
Source: Daily Star