Ray of light as new star rises from the chaos

ONE of the beauties of sport is its transience. What can seem so dreadful one day can appear an awful lot better the next. So it was that Manchester United supporters filed out of Old Trafford here talking not for once about the future of their manager Louis van Gaal but instead of what may lie ahead in the young lives of Marcus Rashford and Memphis Depay.

Those who were here were shouting ‘Ole’ by the end as everything their team touched threatened to fly into the back of the net while those who stayed away, those who left the top tier of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand closed for business, will have sat at home and wished they had been in their usual match-day seat.

It doesn’t matter that this was a game against poor opposition, nor that it was a match in a competition United supporters used to scoff at.

A good day at the match is always a good day at the match and here United gave a manager and a set of supporters who have suffered a little this season something different to chew on.

For once, the bad luck that seems to follow Van Gaal around turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to him, in terms of this tie at least.

An injury to Anthony Martial in the warm-up took United’s injury list to an incredible 14 players and meant that 18-year-old Rashford had to be thrust from the bench into the team for his debut.

A little shy of two hours later, however, Rashford was celebrating two decisive goals and perhaps wondering why Ander Herrera hadn’t allowed him to take the penalty that could have brought him a hat-trick to match that scored by 18-year-old Wayne Rooney on his own debut here back in September 2004.

Herrera’s decision was the right one, by the way. The score stood at 3-1 at the time and FC Midtjylland were only a single goal from getting back into the tie. As such there was no time for any sentiment at that moment, even if there was plenty available on the whole here.

Rashford brought us a really great story. The young lad from south Manchester may only have been on the field because United’s work in the transfer window left them a striker light this season, but to dwell on that would be sour.

We may never even hear of him again. It will take more than this to prove that he is good enough for this great club. But that doesn’t really matter. This was Boy’s Own stuff on a night where young Depay also came to the fore in a United shirt.

Depay, of course, is a totally different subject. The Dutch international was brought to Old Trafford for big money and with a big reputation in the summer and has flunked so badly that it has at times been hard not to wonder if PSV sold United his twin brother instead.

Here, though, Depay was magical throughout. Sensing that he was simply too good for this limited opposition and aware perhaps that patience was beginning to wear thin with him at United, this was a performance brimming with purpose and style and — just as it should be — totally lacking in mercy.

Watching on, it was hard not to feel sorry for the Danes’ right back Andre Romer but crucially Depay did not.

For Romer, the old ‘twisted blood’ analogy seemed appropriate. He will have seen Depay in his dreams last night but he still wouldn’t have been able to catch him.

Van Gaal will still want to see more from Depay before this season is through. United’s injuries are such that Depay will have to fire like this in the Barclays Premier League and the FA Cup if any good is to come of this wretched season.

United are at home to Arsenal on Sunday and that would be a good time to repeat this performance, or something like it at least.

Confidence seems to count for an awful lot for a player like Depay, though, and maybe, just maybe, this night of prosperity will be enough to put some wind beneath those rather expensive wings.

By the end, United had scored five. They had missed a penalty, too, and, earlier, had fallen behind.

This was some night indeed. Manchester United are not totally dead to the beauty of sporting joy, after all.