Marcus Rashford Scores Twice As United Win Omonia In Europa League

Faced with the major embarrassment of losing to Omonia Nicosia, Manchester United settled for the minor embarrassment of merely conceding an awful goal, before goals from Marcus Rashford, who got two, and Anthony Martial – both of them on as subs – clinched an important win.

United started well and spurned various excellent chances to take the lead.

Then, on 34 minutes and following a United free-kick, Bruno broke downfield, there was no cover, fed Karim Ansarifard, and he lashed a tremendous shot into the roof of the net for a goal no team, at any level should concede, ever.

Presumably Erik ten Hag shared words and sentiments at half-time, and on 53 minutes Rashford curled home a delicious equaliser then, moments after coming on, Anthony Martial drove home an equally tasty finish.

Rashford then added a third that looked like a clincher, but seconds later, Nikolaos Panagiotou pulled one back as United lost concentration to reanimate the match.

Anthony Martial has had a Manchester United career, and had he done well on loan at Sevilla last season, he’d probably have moved there permanently.

But he did not so ended up staying at United, partly because no decent offers came in for him from anywhere else and partly because United ended up spending their money on strengthening in positions other than his.

Now, though, he looks an essential part of any fully functioning United side. Cristiano Ronaldo can occasionally do good things, but is finished as a consistent force, while Marcus Rashford is better coming off the left.

Martial, on the other hand – at his best – holds the ball up well, finishes calmly and can beat men, all useful qualities in a centre forward.

As Ten Hag observed in the summer, the talent is there and so too is the place in United’s starting XI – the only question is whether Martial can muster up the desire to use one to secure the other.