By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Marcus Rashford’s 87th minute magic strike was what Manchester United needed to disunite Paris St-Germain (PSG) at the Parc des Princes in a thrilling Champions League match
played Tuesday night.
Rashford, also on the same venue 19 months ago, stepped up to score a last-minute penalty against Paris St-Germain and sent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side into the last eight of the Champions League.
The Manchester club from the inception of the match exhibited speed and skill which surprised most of their fans, who had watched their shambolic display of recent.
From the fifth minute of the encounter, the club’s No. 9, Anthony Martial, tore the defence of the French club. His skillful runs led to his being hacked down inside 18 yard box, which the day’s captain, Bruno Fernandes, converted the resultant penalty.
Shortly after the spot kick, Anthony Martial misguided a header into his own net.
And Rashford then drilled in the winner with three minutes left after failing to make the most of a clear counter-attack minutes earlier.
“It’s a different feeling from the last time we won here, it’s at the start of the group stage but we’ve beaten a fantastic team,” Solskjaer said.
“Last time it was a knockout and it was euphoric, this is sterile without the fans but it’s still excellent and we deserved to win.”
“For me, they were both opportunities to win the game,” Rashford said.
“As a striker, in the game late on, that’s the mentality. You might only get one chance. It gets us the three points.”
Solskjaer said after the game that Rashford and Mbappe were “both potentially top strikers for the next 10-15 years”, but how does Rashford measure up to France’s World Cup winner?