The unequivocal proof that something has not gone well at United in recent years is that Marcus Rashford (Manchester, 31/X/1997), at the age of 25, has played more games in the Europa League than in the Champions League. Tonight's will be the striker's 32nd appearance in the tournament, for 29 in the top continental competition.
A youth squad player for the Red Devils, Rashford is another of the many young footballers who owe their arrival to the elite to Louis van Gaal – like Xavi Hernández, now Barça coach. In February 2016, the Dutch coach gave him the alternative, among other things due to Rooney's loss. The teenager's debut could not have been more exciting. He scored two doubles in his first two games: against Midtjylland and against Arsenal.
In his eighth season, Rashford is already one goal away from matching his best scoring record, the 22 goals he celebrated in the 2019-20 campaign. The Englishman's explosion has come after the World Cup and the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from Old Trafford.
The return in 2021 of the Portuguese to the team from which he left in 2009 fully affected Rashford's performance. Ronaldo loves to enter on the left flank and that is precisely the ideal position for the British player, who barely scored 5 goals last year, his poorest figure, and was the seventeenth player in minutes.
The breaking of Cristiano's contract came during the World Cup in Qatar, a tournament in which Rashford once again saw how his weight in the English team was limited. The United forward has been in two Euro Cups (2016 and 2021 – he missed a penalty in the final shoot-out) and two World Cups (2018 and 2022) but he has only started two of the 18 games played in a major tournament selections. Still, in Qatar, he scored three goals, two of them against Wales, in the only game in which he started.
The injustice, in the eyes of the person involved, has served as Rashford's inner rage and food to be more decisive than ever with his team. In addition to the fact that Cristiano's goodbye has left him free ground. Returning from the club competition, the striker has become a formidable striker, a compendium of verticality, nose, dribbling and accurate shots. Angry at being relegated by Southgate and freed from Ronaldo's shadow, he has scored 13 goals in 15 games for the Red Devils and only missed the net in three. His great form has boosted United, who have won 12 of those games and only lost one.
In the same time Håland has scored 8 for City, the same as Osimhen for Napoli. Lautaro has 7 at Inter, like Balogun at Rennes, and Lewandowski, who has been suspended, remains at five. Perhaps for this reason, United rushed to renew his contract for another year, until 2024. “We are not just looking out for Rashford. They have very fast transitions, also with Garnacho or Sancho. That must be watched”, warned Xavi.
With injuries to Antony, Eriksen and Martial, Erik ten Hag needs the inspiration of his number 10 more than ever. Although in the 2019 tie, he tiptoed through the 158 minutes he played against Barça. Now it's different. He is on such a roll that Wout Weghorst, the coach's compatriot and winter signing, has yet to score.
It is not the first time that Rashford, raised in the humble suburb of Wythenshawe, has scored a goal related to food and hunger. In November 2020, he managed to get the British government, then led by Boris Johnson, to review its measures and include in the budget a package of food aid during school holidays for disadvantaged children, who did use scholarships during the course -dining room. The idol now feeds on goal.
