Marcus Rashford hails ‘massive’ Man United player after Omonia win | OneFootball

Following last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Manchester City, United have returned to winning ways as they dispatched Cypriot side Omonia in the Europa League.

Erik ten Hag’s men were dealt a scare in the 90-minute affair, however, with Omonia going into half-time one goal to the good. That prompted two changes from Ten Hag, with Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw replacing Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia.

The switch injected some life into United in the second half and Rashford was at the heart of most of it. The 24-year-old scored twice and assisted another as the Reds claimed another three points in their group.

Another second-half substitute, Anthony Martial, impressed again after his cameo against Manchester City. Speaking after the game, Rashford has hailed Martial for his impact, insisting he’s a ‘massive’ player for the team.

“He is a massive player for us, he has been for a long time and when he is happy and he’s at it, he is an unbelievable player and I’ve always enjoyed playing with him,” Rashford said about Martial, according to the official Manchester United website.

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“It was nice to link up with him today to score his goal and we’ll be looking to do that more and more.

“I think it’s good for him. We’ve both been injured, he’s been injured a little bit longer than me so it’s good for him to get minutes, and for the second game in a row he’s come on and scored goals, and made an impact.”

Martial is yet to start a game this season after having his campaign disrupted by injuries. He has, however, been impressive in all of his appearances. In three games off the bench, Martial has scored three goals and assisted once.

SN’s verdict… With pre-season also taken into account, United have looked like a better side when Martial is in the team and that’s something Ten Hag has admitted.

The problem is that it’s difficult to rely on the Frenchman because of his patchy injury record. When he’s fit and firing, he remains a fantastic option for United.

Ten Hag will now be praying that Martial is able to keep fit for as long as possible and for the player, his ambition will be to make France’s World Cup squad later this winter.