Team-mates united in victory and defeat

REACHING a World Cup semi-final is a remarkable achievement – especially if you play for England.

The Three Lions have only managed that feat on two previous occasions and have had to wait 28 years to get to this stage of the competition.

But Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones can now look forward to a date with Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday following their 2-0 win against Sweden.

It would have been understandable for United’s English contingent to get carried away in celebration but it was noticeable how Rashford made a beeline for club team-mate Victor Lindelof at the final whistle.

Lindelof has been one of United’s big performers in Russia this summer but is now on his way home and Rashford knows that pain well.

The 20-year-old exited Euro 2016 at the hands of Iceland and those memories will have come flooding back as he comforted his team-mate.

It brought back memories of how Rashford put his arm around Lindelof down at Swansea in October – just days after the defender’s confidenceshattering display against Huddersfield.

Jones, who was an unused substitute, also showed his class at the end of England’s win and made his way over to Lindelof to console him.

The Swede took to Instagram after the game to post a simple ‘thank you’ message to his one million followers and will now spend some time away before returning for pre-season training.