It was a strike that evoked memories of Cristiano Ronaldo. And there are few higher praises than that for a young Manchester United forward as Marcus Rashford celebrated ahead of his 22nd birthday on Thursday by scoring an extraordinary free-kick that knocked Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup to claim a place in the quarter-finals.
United were under severe pressure, having been pegged back by a resurgent Chelsea in the second-half, when substitute Pedro brought down Fred. It was central and fully 30 yards out but Rashford was always going to go for goal as he manipulated a right-footed shot that swerved right, then left, then dipped viciously with goalkeeper Willy Caballero grasping at the air as the ball tore past him and into the top corner.
The violence of the hit was remarkable and a decade ago it was the kind of free-kick Ronaldo used to take for United.
Almost as remarkable was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s refusal to conduct a press conference after the game, which was a shame. So it came down to Chelsea’s Frank Lampard to comment on the winning goal.
“No team can stop that. It’s a bolt out of the blue,” the Chelsea manager said. Or
a bolt out of the red.
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Solskjaer spoke on television, as did Rashford who admitted United have been in a “tough place” so far this campaign and are doing their best to “fight” their “way through it”.
Rashford added: “The start of the season wasn’t exactly what we expected but we have got to get through it and get back to winning games.”
And the free-kick? “To be honest, it was the balls,” he said, referring to the different football that is used in this competition
(Mitre as opposed to Nike in the Premier League) rather than the nerve he showed.
“When we were training with them and we were shooting there was this up and down motion and they can go anywhere. Thankfully, today it went in the top corner. It is a positive day.”
It was Rashford also who showed balls in taking the first-half penalty that had given United the lead, especially since he missed from the spot against Norwich City only at the weekend and the previous brouhaha over who was the designated taker.
But, as with his free-kick, it was a nerveless dead-ball strike and also meant that Rashford has now scored 52 goals in 184 games for United and, tellingly, has claimed 13 of those in 31 matches against the other teams in the supposed Big Six. It is a further vindication of the faith Solskjaer has in him and why the manager has endorsed Rashford and Anthony Martial over the departed Romelu Lukaku even if
he admits he needs another striker.
Source: The Telegraph (UK)
