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MANCHESTER, England – When Manchester United played in the twilight zone of the Europa League in recent seasons, Marcus Rashford never hid his frustration at not being able to show his talent on the biggest stage, the Champions League, but he is making a quick comeback. lost time. A week after scoring a late goal against Paris Saint-Germain, he scored a 16-minute hat trick on Wednesday to defeat RB Leipzig.
Rashford just can’t avoid the spotlight right now. If you are not scoring goals for United, you are challenging politicians by fighting for free meals for underprivileged children and gaining recognition from the Queen of England in the process.
He’s becoming a sports icon who can’t go wrong, and Leipzig became the latest opponent to learn it the hard way.
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Julian Nagelsmann’s team came to Old Trafford as Bundesliga leaders and undefeated in any competition since losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the Champions League last season in Lisbon, but United crushed them 5- 0, with Rashford stealing the show as second. substitute medium. A 63-minute replacement for 19-year-old Mason Greenwood, who had previously become United’s second-youngest scorer in the Champions League (after Wayne Rooney) by making it 1-0 in the first half, Rashford delivered an incredible display of spikes to score. his first hat trick with United and sending Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team to the top of Group H.
Rashford has always had a good eye for goal. From the moment he scored twice on his debut, when he was 18 years old against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League in February 2016, the English forward has seen himself at home in the United jersey and with all the pressure that comes with it. . He has now scored 74 goals in 223 appearances for the club, a healthy rate of roughly one goal every three games, but this substitute outing against Leipzig was only his 20th Champions League game, and he has a lot to catch up on. contemporaries like Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
Both Mbappé and Haaland have risen to the soccer stratosphere thanks in large part to their scoring exploits in the Champions League. Mbappé now has a World Cup champion medal to his name, but he burst onto the scene with Monaco in the Champions League in 2017 and has been on top ever since. And while Haaland was announced to the world last season, starting with a hat trick for FC Salzburg against Genk in the group stage, the Norwegian international ended the campaign with Borussia Dortmund confirming his status as the game’s best young forward. .
Rashford believes he deserves to be in the same company, but to prove it he has to do it in the Champions League. However, the unfortunate thing for Rashford is that United have not been good enough to give him Champions League football for most of his senior career at the club.
But now that they’re back in the biggest competition, Rashford is showing off his devastating talent, and he’s doing it against top-notch opponents too. His winning goal in Paris last week was against the French champions and last season’s defeated finalists, while against Leipzig he faced Dayot Upamecano, the young French defender who is widely regarded as one of the best emerging talents. in the game. But Upamecano will have left the Old Trafford field with his head spinning after Rashford’s crushing cameo.
Rashford’s first goal, in the 75th minute, came after the forward ran to a pass from Bruno Fernandes and ran over goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi before beating the former Liverpool goalkeeper at point-blank range. The assistant referee had signaled offside, but referee Matej Jug shook up the game to allow the VAR to make the final decision, and the Slovenian referee proved correct as Rashford had started inches from his own half.
Rashford scored his second goal three minutes later, beating Upamecano in the process, and then nearly scored again with a labyrinthine run that ended with his shot blocked. But the triplet goal came in injury time, after Anthony Martial had made it 4-0 from the penalty spot, when Rashford shot at point-blank range after being attacked by Martial.
In doing so, he became the first United player to score a Champions League hat trick since Robin van Persie against Olympiakos in 2014. And Rashford also became the first United substitute to score three in a game since Solskjaer accomplished the feat in an 8-1. victory against Nottingham Forest in 1999.
“He came in and did well,” Solskjaer said, somewhat understated, of Rashford’s performance. “You want that from the understudies.”
Rashford was United’s standout player, but Solskjaer had plenty of others to improve his game against the German team. Paul Pogba, David De Gea and Harry Maguire impressed, while Greenwood’s shot for the first goal suggested he has not been distracted by his recent omission from the team by Solskjaer.
Having been so poor in the loss to Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford this season, United have beaten two of Europe’s best teams in the space of a week. Solskjaer clearly has players and tactics to triumph against the best teams. But it helps when you have a forward as impressive as Rashford.
If he continues to shine on the Champions League stage, who knows how far United can go this season?
