Rashford relishing Brazilian battle
Marcus Rashford has been in love with Brazilian football since the age of five and based his game on the fearless forward play of Ronaldo.
The Manchester United striker was barely old enough for school when he had his first matchday experience at Old Trafford – a Champions League quarter-final in April 2003 – but he was already learning.
United beat Real Madrid 4-3 on the night but Ronaldo’s thrilling hat-trick was enough to see the Spanish side through on aggregate.
The World Cup winner said last year he sees hints of himself in the 20-year old Englishman and, speaking ahead of Brazil’s friendly at Wembley tomorrow, Rashford named Ronaldo as his childhood inspiration.
“He was my brother’s favourite player – that’s why I’ve grown up watching so much of him and his games,” he said, with a nod of thanks to sibling Dwaine. “It’s all those clips on YouTube and my first ever game that I saw live, he was playing in it. I always remember it. It was in 2003 and scored a hattrick. I was only young, though. “He was obviously a top player who won a lot of things in his career, so when you know he’s saying good things about you then it really stands out.
“He always played free. No matter where he was playing, he played free and went out there and expressed himself. When you do that, that’s when you play your best football.
“When you’re young you watch clips of the best players in the world and try and emulate them – it just tends to happen naturally.”
Brazil’s current generation are on the up again after some dips in recent years, rated sec- ond in the world. And while Rashford’s job will be to match or better their efforts, he remains a fan too. “Who doesn’t enjoy watching the type of football they play? When they’re at their best it’s unbelievable football to watch,” he said.
Rashford was a second-half sub in Friday’s 0-0 draw against Germany, getting a rare outing as part of a front two alongside Jamie Vardy.
“It’s a bit different,” said Rashford, who has frequently been used in a wide role by club and country. “Like anything new, it takes a bit of getting used to, but the more we do it the better we’ll become at it.”
2 Brazil are rated second in the FIFA world rankings