John Shiels was presenting the women's goal of the season award to Russo at United's end-of-season awards ceremony on Monday but initially said he would not give the trophy to her as it was "so heavy".

Shiels did then hand the trophy over before offering to take it back.

Shiels took to Twitter on Tuesday to say he was "mortified" to have caused offence, adding that he simply wanted to alert Russo as he was "shocked by how heavy" the trophy was.

Russo had won the award for her stoppage-time header against Arsenal which earned United a 3-2 win in front of more than 40,000 fans at the Emirates in November.

Shiels wrote: "Last night I had the honour of presenting Alessia Russo with the women's goal of the season award at the Manchester United end-of-season awards ceremony.

"I made a comment about the weight of the trophy which I know has caused offence. I am mortified by this and want to apologise to Alessia, her team-mates and anyone else offended.

"I alerted Alessia to the weight of the trophy because I was shocked by how heavy it felt, and would have done the same if presenting to a male player. I simply did not want her to drop it.

"However, on reflection, I can see why the comment has been misconstrued.

"Female empowerment is at the heart of Manchester United Foundation's work, with almost 10,000 girls and young women taking part in our programmes annually.

"I'm proud of this work and upset that my remarks created a distraction from the fantastic achievements of Alessia and the women's team this season."

Russo scored 10 goals in 20 WSL games this season and helped United to finish second in both the league and FA Cup.