Football
Rob Dawson, Correspondent 7y

Swansea's Paul Clement accuses Marcus Rashford over penalty

MANCHESTER -- Swansea City boss Paul Clement has accused Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford of "deceiving" referee Neil Swarbrick to win a penalty during Sunday's 1-1 draw.

Rashford went down under pressure from goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski at the end of the first half at Old Trafford.

Swarbrick pointed to the spot but Clement insisted afterwards there had not been any contract.

"My initial thought at the time, seeing how my players reacted to it, was that they clearly thought it wasn't [a penalty]," the Swansea manager told BT Sport.

"I've seen the replay and the player has deceived the referee. It's clear, there's no other way to look at it.

"I thought when he blew the whistle that he had some doubts because there was a significant delay between the incident and the whistle going, but I spoke to him afterwards and he said he was only receiving confirmation from his assistants that it was. They had seen what he had seen, but it was a mistake.

"I don't even think [Rashford] initiated contact. He's gone down way before there's contact."

United boss Jose Mourinho said afterwards he had not seen the incident but added Rashford, 19, has told him it was a penalty.

"I don't have a view because I didn't watch and I have Marcus' opinion and he said that the goalkeeper touched him," Mourinho told his postmatch news conference.

Wayne Rooney scored the penalty in first-half stoppage time before Gylfi Sigurdsson scored a free kick in the 79th minute to earn Swansea a point.

It extended United's unbeaten run in the league to a club record 25th game. But their 10th home draw in the Premier League this season did little to help their hopes of finishing in the top four.

"The second half was our best period because we had control, we had chances to score the goal, relax and probably kill the game," Mourinho said.

"Then they score a beautiful free kick, we lose two points but I am very happy with the players, I am very happy with them."

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