Jose plays the Rashford card to a tee
ON a day when Manchester United’s potency returned, Marcus Rashford went back to his dazzling early promise. When they stand to applaud a young player leaving the field here, it tends to mean a great career is forming.
It was always youth that made Old Trafford feel most alive.
The gains for Jose Mourinho were more numerous than Rashford’s return to form. Mourinho disappointed United’s fans with his team selection, then delighted them with the performance.
Across the piece, Mourinho could take credit for his team’s tenacity at the back and terrier-like qualities in attack, where Rashford and Jesse Lingard made light of the decision to rest Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In the defensive midfield area, where Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté has been the king, Ander Herrera shaped the game. United knocked Chelsea out of their title-winning groove, smothering the threat of Eden Hazard and drawing Diego Costa into a series of energy-sapping feuds.
United were recognisably Manchester United. They were no longer the type of side that draws 56.25% of their home fixtures.
The apparent emphasis on taking the Europa League route to Champions League qualification looked like an admission of defeat. Instead, Mourinho’s young front two had David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma in a spin.
Rashford has returned from the mists he drifted into after a sensational start to his United career had caused everyone to forget he was a teenager and deny him the right to go through ups and downs in his development.
Those luminous pre-Euro 2016 displays faded into memory. And the familiar error kicked in: Rashford was judged like a fully mature pro, a finished item. In reality this 2-0 win over Chelsea was his 25th league appearance. It was also his most dramatic. It reopened the title race and rewrote United’s prospects for the run-in.
His standing ovation when Ibrahimovic replaced him after 82 minutes evoked the great Old Trafford sendoffs to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo or Ryan Giggs.
Mourinho said: “The kid fantastically well.”
United’s manager also declared: “We keep two windows open to play Champions League football [next season].” Rashford, meanwhile, kept the hope alive that United can still find young stars and put them on this stage to grow and learn. – The Daily Telegraph played