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‘I can’t stop smiling, I’ve waited a long time for that’: Marcus Rashford delighted with his first hat-trick at Manchester United as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer greets the ‘focus’ star
- Marcus Rashford scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United on Wednesday
- The forward came off the bench in the 63rd minute in the 5-0 win over RB Leipzig
- After scoring in the 74th minute, it took him just over 15 minutes to complete the triplet
- Rashford then shared his joy at the first hat-trick with a post on Twitter.
Marcus Rashford came off the bench to fire an impressive hat-trick as Manchester United thrashed RB Leipzig at Old Trafford.
United’s man of the moment, who was the hero of their Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain last week, took just 18 minutes to score his first hat-trick for the club in a 5-0 win.
Rashford also emulated his coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the only substitutes in United history to come in and score a hat-trick.
Marcus Rashford came off the bench to score a hat-trick for Manchester United on Wednesday
Scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of RB Leipzig in the Champions League group stage
The English forward posted a message on social media saying: ‘I can’t stop smiling, I’ve waited a long time for that.’ I just wish the fans could experience it with me. ”
Rashford replaced Mason Greenwood, the scorer of United’s first goal with his first shot in the Champions League, in the 63rd minute and could have scored another, but agreed to have Anthony Martial shoot a penalty for the fourth.
“A bit (of an argument) yes, but I feel confident that Anthony will take them as well, so there was no problem,” he added.
It was his first hat-trick for the Red Devils and he admitted he ‘couldn’t stop smiling’
“ The coach told me when I picked up the pace and of course for us it means moving on and there were definitely spaces there.
“We managed to find the holes. It seemed like we could score every time we advanced. ‘
Solskjaer, who scored his hat-trick off the bench against Nottingham Forest in February 1999, paid tribute to Rashford but tried to manage expectations after Paul Scholes told BT Sport that the youngster could score 25 goals this season. .
“Now is not the time to think about how many goals you are going to score, as long as you focus on the next job, training tomorrow, of course he only played 30 minutes,” said the United manager.
Rashford could even have scored four goals before conceding to designated penalty taker Anthony Martial on a United penalty shot five minutes before scoring his hat-trick in injury time.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised the forward’s approach after his second half showing
‘One step at a time. If you go too far ahead, you will lose focus. Marcus has shown that he can continue to focus on what’s important on and off the field right now.
He did very well today leaving the bank.
“Before the game I said that Anthony was going to take that penalty and that’s it. If you look at the starting team, it was Anthony or Paul (Pogba) who took and Paul was eliminated. ”
Solskjaer revealed that new signing Alex Telles was unavailable after testing positive for coronavirus.
Rashford has followed his boss to become the second United player to score a hat-trick from the bench after Solskjaer scored four in an 8-1 win at Nottingham Forest in 1999.
Solskjaer applauds his team after they opened their European campaign with two wins
“He has been out for a few days, although he has no symptoms, so he will be fine, back soon.”
The victory gives United firm control of Group H after beating last season’s finalist PSG and now the semi-finalists as well.
It was a punishing experience for Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann, one of Europe’s brightest young coaches, who saw the Bundesliga leaders disarm towards the end.
“It’s a bad result for us,” Nagelsmann said. “It was a bit crazy because after conceding the first goal I thought we did well.
“I told the guys that a 2-0 would not have been bad, but that it was 5-0, so now it doesn’t make the journey easier for us.”
