Marcus Rashford shows he’s a star on the pitch too as Man United canter to victory
Manchester United's Marcus Rashford in action during the UEFA Champions League Group H match. Picture: Nick Potts/PA Wire
Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United forwards who has captivated the country for his charitable work in recent days, did the same thing for his team’s supporters last night as his hat-trick helped continue Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s strong start to the Champions League.
Winners of their opening group game at PSG, Rashford bagged three goals as a second half substitute, scoring them in less than 16 minutes.
He effectively secured these three points with the second goal, after 74 minutes, when he chased Bruno Fernandes’s perfect through ball half the length of the field before slotting into the Leipzig goal.
A premature assistant’s flag first saw the goal ruled out but VAR showed Rashford was clearly in his own half when he collected the ball and that decision was overruled.
Nor was he finished. Three minutes later, Fred won a strong tackle in midfield, slipped the ball beyond the visitors’ backline and Rashford was on the end of it to lash the ball in from just inside the area.
It was a magnificent way for one of the men - let alone footballers - of the moment to end a week in which he has done so much to highlight the hunger of under-privileged schoolchildren.
Mason Greenwood has attracted attention for other reasons, sent home by England for breaking Covid restrictions and also the subject of reports that he has been warned about poor time keeping by Solskjaer.
But he opened the scoring after 21 minutes, ably assisted by Paul Pogba who had been recalled after losing his starting place in recent weeks.
Fred, in the midst of a busy and quietly effective evening, won a loose ball in midfield for Pogba who advanced before sliding through a superbly weighted pass for Greenwood, in a borderline offside position, to advance and slip the ball into the German goal.
But wait. Replays suggested that the United teenager was fractionally offside, a suspicion confirmed when United coaches could be seen disappointedly gesturing as such to their players on the field.
Yet VAR thought otherwise and, after a brief delay, the goal was allowed to stand - Greenwood’s first in the Champions League, making him the second youngest ever United player, after Wayne Rooney, to score in that competition.
The rout, and a slightly flattering scoreline, continued five minutes from time when Anthony Martial was tripped by Marcel Sabitzer and Rashford selflessly ignored a potential hat-trick and allows his team mate to convert the spot kick.
And with the Germans in meltdown, Rashford did actually snatch that hat-trick in the first minute of added time, shooting home from 16 yards after great approach work from Martial.
It was a four-star display from a team that has recovered well from a shaky opening to the season and that horrendous home defeat to Tottenham at the start of the month.
An early Fred shot was well saved, Martial should have picked out Greenwood for a certain goal and the opener then put them firmly in control.
But Leipzig are highly regarded for a reason and it took David de Gea’s alert reflexes to keep out a shot from Christopher Nkunku after Luke Shaw failed to close him down quickly enough.
There might have been concerns for Solskjaer with Nemanja Matic fortunate to escape a second yellow card for a challenge in which he appeared to lead with an elbow - exactly the same offence that had earned him a first half caution - and the midfielder was promptly substituted.
And Harry Maguire was involved in a running battle with Leipzig irritant in chief Yussuf Poulsen who almost had the last laugh, with a flick that set up a close-range header for Konate which de Gea tipped over the bar with another decent save.
De Gea 7; Wan-Bissaka 8, Lindelof 6, Maguire 6, Shaw 5; Matic 5 (McTominay 63, 7); Fred 8; Greenwood 7 (Rashford 63, 9), Pogba 7, Van de Beek 7 (Fernandes 67, 8); Martial 5. Subs (not used) Cavani, Mata, James, Fosu-Mensah, Ighalo, Henderson, Williams, Tuanzebe, Mengi.
Gulacsi 6; Henrichs 5 (Sabitzer 63, 6), Konate 6, Upamecano 5, Halstenberg 5; Kampl 6; Nkunku 5 (Sorloth 66, 6), Olmo 6, Forsberg 6, Angelino 5; Poulsen 7. Subs (not used) Orban, Hwang, Tschauner, Adams, Samardzic, Kluivert, Martinez, Borkowski, Martel, Wosz.
M Jug (Slovenia) 5
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