Jesse Lingard warned over behaviour after confrontation in England's draw with Slovenia

The Manchester United winger reacted angrily when Aljaz Struna appeared to hit Marcus Rashford

Lingard, right, was angered with Struna's treatment of Rashford (Getty)

Jesse Lingard has promised to stand up for his team-mate Marcus Rashford again, despite Gareth Southgate warning him to cut the aggression out of his game.

The Manchester United winger reacted angrily to club and international team-mate Rashford being hit in the face by opponent Aljaz Struna during the fina stages of England’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia.

Lingard attempted to rush towards Struna and had to be held back by his team-mates until referee Deniz Ayetkin could calm the situation.

“I’m told he reacted to someone raising their hands at Marcus. That’s something he’s got to cut out,” Southgate, the interim England manager, said after the goalless draw at Ljubljana’s Stozice Stadium.

“There’s a danger you get a red card in this sort of game when there’s inconsistency in a lot of the decisions. There’s even more of a risk.”

Joe Hart, who led Lingard away from the confrontation with Struna, was equally forthright in his assessment of Lingard's behaviour.

"I don't really care [what upset Lingard]. You can't lose your head like that. Luckily he kept it, we didn't lose him, so that was important."

Lingard is a close friend of Rashford and, despite the comments of Southgate and Hart, has since affirmed that he will not hesitate to stand up for the youngster again.

He tweeted on Wednesday: "Always got u bruh @marcusrashford".

The 23-year-old winger also jumped to the defence of Rashford during last season's Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium, after his team-mate clashed with Martin Demichelis.

Lingard was making his second senior England appearance during Tuesday's draw, having debuted in the weekend's 2-0 win over Malta at Wembley.