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Publication date: Thursday, October 29, 2020 6:44 AM
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows a thing or two about making an impact from the bench and praised super substitute Marcus Rashford after his hat-trick in Manchester United’s impressive win against RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
A week after firing the Red Devils to victory at Paris St Germain, the 22-year-old who is leading a notable prosecution against child food poverty – was named to the bench for Wednesday’s Group H game.
Mason Greenwood’s fine first-half goal put United in the driver’s seat against last season’s semi-finalist Leipzig, but Solskjaer turned to Rashford in the 63rd minute in an attempt to see the Bundesliga leaders.
READ: Solskjaer produces his best game from the embers of his worst
It was an inspired decision, as the forward’s first effort gave the green light to the video assistant referee who was initially declared offside by a pass from fellow substitute Bruno Fernandes.
Rashford soon scored his second, but looked like he was denied a triple when Anthony Martial scored the penalty he had won, only for the England international to crash and complete a 5-0 injury-time win.
“Now is not the time to think about how many goals you are going to get,” Solskjaer said when Paul Scholes’ comment on a possible 25-goal season for Rashford was directed at the United manager. He has now scored seven this season.
“As long as you focus on the next job at hand, training tomorrow, of course it only played 30 minutes.
“There is 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 is important on and off the court right now. He did really well today leaving the bank. “
Solskjaer is in a unique position to speak about the mindset required to score a triple off the bench as the only other player in United history to have accomplished that feat.
“As a substitute, sometimes it’s the best time to come in when your team is winning, there are spaces everywhere and Marcus used his opportunities incredibly well,” said the Norwegian, who hit four as a substitute at Nottingham Forest as United. won 8-1 in February 1999.
“You can see players looking for each other, playing an extra pass now and I am very satisfied with the response.
“Everyone knows that sometimes you have to rest. Players cannot play six or seven games in two weeks. It will be difficult.
“Bruno and Marcus played five in 14 days, that’s quite difficult. Football today with intensity must be recovered and that is why we have a great squad ”.
Solskjaer extended his praise to the entire group after their work against a Leipzig team that made life more difficult than the score suggested.
“It was a case of using the equipment,” Solskjaer said. “We had to rest some players and those who entered did great.
“We had to work hard for this, they really made us work hard on the ball and also on the ball because they counterattacked. The intensity of his game was incredible.
“After 2-0, of course, they open, they go for the goals and the spaces open for our fresh legs.
“It is very good for the players to know that we have a strong team to choose from. We are very happy with the beginning.
“We have played against two very good teams, two difficult games and we have done fantastic.
“We show our own quality and if we focus on the next job and the next job and the next job, who knows how far they will go. We are going to Istanbul next week and we want three points there too ”.
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