MANCHESTER -- Jose Mourinho has blasted Frank De Boer, calling him "the worst manager in the history of the Premier League" after the former Crystal Palace boss said it is "a pity" Marcus Rashford is managed by the Portuguese coach.
Mourinho handed Rashford his first Premier League start of 2018 against Liverpool and the 20-year-old took his opportunity with both goals in the 2-1 win.
De Boer, though, suggested after the game that Rashford would be better off playing under a manager other than Mourinho.
The Dutchman lasted just 77 days after losing four consecutive league games without scoring a goal before being replaced by Roy Hodgson in September.
"I read something, some quote from the worst manager in the history of the Premier League, Frank De Boer -- seven matches, seven defeats, zero goals.
"What he was saying was [it is] not good for Marcus Rashford to have a coach like me because the most important thing for me is to win. If he was coached by Frank, he would learn how to lose because he lost every game."
De Boer, who has also managed Ajax and Inter Milan, suggested on Saturday that Rashford should play more often.
"It's a pity that the manager is Mourinho because normally, he's an English player. You want to give him time and he can then make mistakes," De Boer told BT Sports on Saturday. "But Mourinho is not like that. He wants to get results.
"If he has one or two not good games, he puts him out. He's a player, he's very young, he needs games, but he's so talented. You want to see this player every week."
Rashford is in line to start the second leg of the Champions League round-of-16 tie against Sevilla at Old Trafford on Tuesday night after that performance against Liverpool.
Anthony Martial has returned from a thigh injury to add competition and Jesse Lingard, who was on the bench against Liverpool, is also pushing to start.
"I try to give the best to [Rashford]," Mourinho said. "I have to be honest and give the credit to the people of the academy that were responsible for his formation, to Mr. [Louis] Van Gaal, who was responsible for his first season.
"But if you go to his numbers and how many matches he played with me last season and this, I would say probably he's in the top five players with more matches in the two seasons."
Rashford has made 93 appearances since Mourinho took over from Van Gaal in 2016.