Marcus Rashford emulates Man Utd legend with another post-World Cup goal
Marcus Rashford’s stellar 2022/23 season got even better on Wednesday as he scored the only goal in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Brentford.
So long a player not fulfilling his talent, the 25-year-old is cashing in on every single piece of stardust in his boots this season, with his close-range effort against the Bees taking him to 28 for the season so far.
Incredibly, 20 of those strikes have come since Rashford returned from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he grabbed another three goals to help England reach the quarter-finals.
No player has scored more Premier League goals in 2023 than Marcus Rashford (9). 🫡 pic.twitter.com/wM1czZVUuz
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Every single goal Rashford can find between now and the end of the season is important, with the Red Devils chasing a top-four spot, as well as still battling in the FA Cup and Europa League as they seek to turn their Carabao Cup success into a treble.
But his 15th Premier League strike of the campaign carried even more weight as it drew him level with club legend and treble-winner Andy Cole on 121 goals across all competitions for Manchester United. It also means Rashford is just five goals shy of equalling his old boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on 126, thus elevating him into the club’s top 10 all-time goalscorers.
Marcus Rashford has now scored as many goals for Manchester United as Andy Cole (121).
Equalling a goalscoring great. 🤝
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Among the other records Rashford is battering down this season, the forward has now equalled Zlatan Ibrahimovic (16/17) and Bruno Fernandes (20/21) as the joint-highest single-season goalscorer in Man Utd’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Fittingly, Rashford’s goal came just a minute after the Stretford End broke into song about Cole to distract from the boredom of what was previously a dull match. Perhaps that was all the inspiration Rashford needed!
“Great finish. Once again he is on top and in very good form so hopefully, he can keep doing it until the end of the season. Keep that focus and those energy levels and then he will score,” Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag noted after the match.
Marcus Rashford's game by numbers vs Brentford:
20 touches
4 chances created (most)
3 shots
3 duels won
2 successful take-ons
1 goal
0.26 xGMatch winner. 👏 pic.twitter.com/GhILpvviWe
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For his part, Rashford is purely focused on doing his very best to help United achieve maximum success this season.
“We are in that period of the season where every game is important and every game counts so we are pleased to win and hopefully we can get back to where we were a few weeks ago,” the striker said.
“The important thing is always to win the next game. Everyone is clear that we are not going to play our best every week but there is never a time to drop our standards and we have to keep trying to push each other every week.”
