Striker Marcus Rashford made an incredible transformation after just a few minutes in the match between Betis vs MU: from a lousy finisher to a super long shot.
From Walcott to Pele
The Manchester United striker in high form missed a lot of chances against Real Betis in Spain.
He had 3 chances to open the scoring at the beginning of the second half. In which, he only hit the goal once and sent the ball straight into the sky twice. At the 3rd miss, if there is a prize for the worst tackle of the century, Rashford will be a top candidate.
The ball was passed by Bruno smoothly to get out of the box, but in an unaccompanied position, MU’s number 10 shot the ball straight into the stands in the taunts of the Betis audience.
After kicking the ball like an amateur, Rashford struggled to the point of pity. He himself certainly could not be satisfied with himself, could only raise his hand to the sky. This psychological expression is not good. If you put it the way of previous seasons, Rashford’s body language is problematic.
But just 40 seconds later, it was Rashford who received the ball in an empty position, this time the distance was longer and he still decided to shoot with all his strength. The ball followed an unpredictable trajectory and hit the bottom corner of the goal in the helplessness of goalkeeper Rui Silva.
And that made fans express mixed feelings towards him on social networks. One said: “Rashford goes from Walcott to Pele in about 60 seconds!”.
Another added: “From Walcott to top Pele in minutes”. One joked: “Only Rashford can give us Walcott and Pele in 10 seconds.”
Another said: “Rashford with another goal immediately did the Pele/Maradona play there”.
Man United entered the quarter-finals after convincingly defeating Real Betis by two legs. And Erik ten Hag praised Rashford’s perseverance.
Speaking after the game, he said: “Rashy missed some chances, but he believed, kept trying and finally got it.”
Captain Harry Maguire added: “It was a good game in both legs. Betis are a good team, they are fifth in La Liga. We know it will not be an easy game. They attacked and threw everything at us.”
“But we expect them to start quickly. We know if we don’t concede in the first 20 minutes most of the game is done well.”
“In the second half we controlled the game very well, we got the goal we deserved and then we played well.”
Set 3 new records, surpassing Ronaldo
With a classy long shot against Betis, Marcus Rashford set two records at the same time, which is the youngest Man United player and the youngest British player (25 years, 136 days) ) hit the 25-goal mark in European cup competitions.
Not stopping there, the striker born in 1997 had the 5th goal in Spain, an achievement that no player in the history of the Red Devils can do in the history of participating in the European Cup. Rashford’s achievements are more than three seniors Tommy Taylor, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dwight Yorke (with 2 goals).
Rashford’s “victims” in Spain include Celta Vigo (2017), Valencia (2018), Granada (2021), Barcelona and Betis (together 2023).
With 25 goals in the UEFA arena (Champions League and Europa League), Rashford broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 24 goals in this arena for Man United.
After the 2021/22 season with only 5 goals in all competitions, Rashford’s achievement this season has been nearly 6 times higher (27 goals). In addition, he also added 9 assists in 43 games in all competitions this season.
According to Opta statistics, of Marcus Rashford’s 27 goals for Man Utd this season, up to 19 have come in 24 games since the 25-year-old returned from the 2022 World Cup.
“He learns from GOAT – Ronaldo,” one fan praised Marcus Rashford. “He’s already a bigger legend in my mind,” another said.
