Having joined Manchester United from Atalanta last summer, Rasmus Højlund had to wait until December to score his first Premier League goal.
The striker netted the winner in the Red Devils’ win over Aston Villa on Boxing Day. Since then, he’s scored in five consecutive games and once in the FA Cup win over Newport County.
He was sidelined with an injury for a month before returning to the pitch in Manchester United’s FA Cup win over Liverpool on Sunday. Prior to the clash, TV2 Sport had a lengthy chat with the 21-year-old and his first comments were about the winner against the Villans.
“There I thought: ‘Finally!’ It was great to shut people up,” he said.
Prior to that, the Denmark international had scored five goals from six Champions League matches. He wasn’t able to replicate his European form in the domestic competition until the end of his year.
The former Atalanta man was aware of the questions over his league form and that had an impact on his own game.
“Of course, it bothered me a bit that people kept talking about this Premier League goal that hadn’t been scored, whereas not many people were talking about the fact that I was top scorer in the Champions League at the same time. I couldn’t quite get my head round that, so it was even nicer to change that 0 to 1,” Højlund explained.
The Dane has hinted that he initially allowed the criticism aimed towards him, especially from social media, to bother him but that’s no longer the case.
“I could feel the support from day one, but it’s clear that there are many who want to see you down because you’ve reached the level you’ve reached, and there are many who may be envious. There have been many positive comments, but there have also been some negative ones that I’ve had to sort through,” he added.
“At first, it was a bit difficult to distinguish between one and the other. I’m from a generation where mobile and social media are read an insane amount. I quickly realised that you rarely get anything out of either the good or the bad, so I quickly decided to put it away before a match.”
Højlund has 13 goals and two assists from 31 games so far for Manchester United.
