Manchester United Wins Behind Impressive Performance Of Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford was described by Louis van Gall as “fantastic” as the young striker scored two goals and assisted on the winner during the 3-2 victory of Manchester United against Arsenal. The display of skills by Rashford came during his debut at the Premier League as his two goals knocked Midtjylland out of the running for the Europa League title.

Rashford struck on the 29th and 32nd minutes for United before Danny Welbeck hit the back of the net five minutes before halftime. Rashford created the decisive 65th minute strike of Ander Herrera. The 69th minute goal of Mezut Özil was only a consolation for Arsenal.

The win gave Manchester United 44 points, just three points behind Manchester City for the last berth in the Champions League. On the other hand, the title hopes of Arsenal dimmed with the loss as they are behind Leicester City by five points.

Van Gaal said he did not expect Rashford to perform this soon. He said Rashford performed well in his first game since he is a striker who is supposed to score goals. The United manager added that the 18-year-old striker was expected to do what his manager tells him to do. But, his performance in the second match was better compared to his first game.

Manchester United Wins Behind Impressive Performance Of Marcus Rashford - image credit: newsweek.com

He added that the performance was the highest level even as Arsenal is better in the first half compared to Barcelona. They create more chances when they played Barcelona against Manchester United.

Rashford considered his first Premier League game amazing and the two goals were a bonus, which he was hoping to continue in the next games. He said he benefitted from playing midweek since Anthony Martial was supposed to start the game. He added that he was not thinking too much about the game. He also thanked Michael Carrick for helping him. He said Carrick kept on encouraging him since he kept on backing off.

On the part of Arsenal, Arsène Wenger said the team can still win the title since it still has eleven matches to go. Wenger said Arsenal will have to come in quick and strong even as he brushed off the effects of their defeat to Manchester United. He said while they lost three crucial points, they have to show that they can bounce back during the game against Swansea City on Wednesday.

Van Gaal demonstrated to the fourth official, Mike Dean, how he believed that Alexis Sanchez fished for a foul for a free-kick by dropping to the floor. The 64-year-old Dutchman apologized for what he did and said he his emotions were too high during the match and he had to apologize to the officials to ensure everything is resolved.

The severity of the injury of Marcos Rojo remains uncertain after the Manchester United player collided with Welbeck. Van Gaal does not think the injury was serious but he will have to wait and see. He planned to let Rojo play for sixty minutes but he did not reach it due to the kick.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday February 29 2016, 9:47 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0