Mata ‘proud’ of Man Utd pal Rashford over school meals fight and hits out at critics who tell him to ‘stick to football’

JUAN MATA is ‘very proud’ of Marcus Rashford and his fight for free school meals for kids.

Manchester United forward Rashford has been taking the Government to task over child poverty in the UK and his Spanish team-mate Mata is backing him to the hilt.

Juan Mata is ‘very proud’ of Marcus Rashford and his fight for free school meals for kids

The Man Utd star has been taking the Government to task over free school meals for kids

And he has also been helping out at a foodbank depot named after his mum Melanie

As well as his positive social media campaign to feed needy children in the UK, United star Rashford has also raised £20million for food charity FareShare.

And this morning footage emerged of the England ace helping out at a depot named after his mum Melanie.

Earlier this week, Rashford blasted Tory MPs for making kids feel like they ‘don’t matter‘ after losing his bid to get the nation’s most vulnerable youngsters free school meals this winter.

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MPs rejected a Labour motion to extend free school meals over the school holidays until Easter 2021 by 322 votes to 261.

But Mata encouraged his pal to keep fighting the good fight.

He told Pitch to Post podcast: “It’s important for every player to realise the platform we have, the message we can get across and the amount of people we can help.

“I’m very proud of what Marcus has been doing.

“On the pitch, of course we know how good he is and he is still performing very well but off the pitch also, the work he’s been doing over the last months has been great.

Rashford also hit back at critics of his 22-year-old pal

“He has improved the quality of life for so many kids in this country, which I’m sure everyone is proud of.

“His family should be proud of him, me, as a team-mate, and the club are very proud of him.

“And I think it’s important also to get the message that of course we are football players and our main focus is our professional life, which is training and playing football and being ready to perform.

“But that doesn’t take away from having time to do these kind of things, which doesn’t take any focus away from our professional life.

“I’ve seen some people saying, Marcus should stick to playing football and things like that, which I don’t really agree with because he can do both, as he’s showing.

“And I’m very proud of what he’s done and he’s getting the reward he deserves.”

Rashford is joint favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year.

And armies of local cafes and chip shops have answered Rashford’s call and offered kids free meals in their area.