BEVERLY HILLS, April 09, (THEWILL) – In the first leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final fixture, English Premier League club Manchester United travelled to Spain to clash against La Liga side Granada and returned from the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes two goals to the good, after a tense game of tight football.
The definitive victory means United put a foot firmly in the door towards advancing to the semi-finals. The only sore aspect of the victory were the suspensions that will keep three key players out of the second-leg at Old Trafford. Defenders Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw and midfielder Scott McTominay all picked up bookings, which rule them out of the return leg.
However, the performance of other star performers like the talismanic Portuguese Bruno Fernandes and, especially, the rejuvenated Englishman Marcus Rashford, who were both on the scoresheet of the match, will mean that they will not have to over-exert themselves at home to progress to the semi-finals.
With his spectacular goal aside, Rashford endured another game, the third in a row, through pain and carrying a knock. Yet, for the second match in a row, United seemed to have no idea how to score a goal until the the 23-year-old stepped up and showed them how it was done, and in the most sublime way possible.
It could be argued that the player ought not to be played when not fully fit and the idea of including him in the line up might seem unconscionable of United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer given the brutal schedule of modern football and the irreparable damage that can ensue from Rashford’s lack of fitness.
Yet, the goals the player brings with his involvement provide ample justification for Solskjaer’s decision given how absolutely toothless Manchester United are without him, how they are so desperately reliant on Rashford to pull something out of nothing and give United’s bark some bite, as has been the case on several occasions.
Credit for the goal must be shared with Victor Lindelof, who spotted the run of Rashford and, being under no pressure, played a beauty of a pass 80 yards into Rashford’s path from the middle of his own half, which found the goalward run of Rashford for the forward to control, keep off his marker and beat an onrushing Rui Silva, in goal for Granada.
That goal was a work of art and illustrates the importance of the forward in the lineup. Rashford’s intelligent run curved inside the full-back leaving Granada’s high-line with absolutely no chance to stop him. He trapped Lindelof’s pass with an unreal first-touch and then stabbed home from close range, which Silva could have done better to stop.
It took Rashford’s goal tally to 20 for the season, to come close to his 22 from 2019/2020. Since Wayne Rooney’s 20 goals in consecutive seasons of the 2008/2009 and the 2009/2010 campaigns no United player has managed that feat until now. More than a decade has elapsed, but Rashford is hitting peak performance at the right time for the Red Devils.
Obviously, in that timeframe, Old Trafford has seen some great individual seasons from strikers that have come and delivered. Again, Rooney features prominently for his contribution in the 2011/12 campaign, the scintillating Robin van Persie in 2012/2013, the veteran Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2016/2017, and the forceful Romelu Lukaku in 2017/2018.
However, none of these greats could replicate Rooney’s record of back-to-back goal scoring efficiency until Rashford succeeded this season, all while playing through the pain. And, that is the kind of contribution that forces Solskjaer to play him with the hope that he can lead them to some silverware to make all the pain and sacrifice count.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
