A day before his 22nd birthday, Marcus Rashford reminded Manchester United fans of a certain Portuguese who used to play for them with a stunning free-kick from well outside 30 yards.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, who knows a thing or two about scoring great goals said: “A bolt out of the blue.”
For most part of the new season Man Utd have looked sluggish and out of ideas, but suddenly a resurgent Red Devils showed that they can play when goaded into action.
In the process, the Red Devils also managed to rack up three consecutive wins –in Europa League, the Premier League and now the Carabao Cup.
Manchester United led through a Marcus Rashford penalty who finally also ended the penalty curse by putting United ahead in the first half.
United were far better than they’ve been all season. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer showed positive intent, bringing on Anthony Martial and Andreas Pereira for Lindelof and Lingard after Chelsea’s Mitchy Batshuayi equalised.
Solskjaer said after the victory: “It shows the character of the team. We were excellent, with fast football. That’s Manchester United. We’re trying to get back to that. Marcus has that strike in him. I’ve seen him in training so many times.”
Rashford has been accused of being wasteful with free-kicks in the past, but on Wednesday, he made sure to score from 30 yards out and reminded everyone of Ronaldo in the process. His knucle-ball kick in fact was a lot similar to Ronaldo’s strike against Portsmouth in the 2007-08 season which left David James bewildered.
