Rashford is feeling more confident with Jose

MARCUS Rashford believes United manager Jose Mourinho has given him greater confidence to express himself in his second season.

Rashford enjoyed a stratospheric rise last year when he scored four goals in his first two career games against Midtjylland and Arsenal and went on to start in the FA Cup final.

The 19-year-old’s emergence was rewarded with a call-up to the England squad and Rashford struck on his international debut before appearing at Euro 2016.

The young striker has had more of a supporting role at United following Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s arrival but insists his confidence has not subsided under Mourinho.

“My all-round game has improved so much over the last year,” Rashford told UEFA. “I’m doing things that I knew I could always do but wasn’t doing when I was younger.

“Being able to do it on the pitch and show it to people is a good feeling to have.

“The people closest to me understand what I mean when I say: ‘I used to think a lot of things but not be able to do it on the pitch when I was younger.’ I’m able to do it now and the manager has helped me a lot with that. “I’m thankful.” Rashford netted his first United goal in the Europa League and maintains the feeling of scoring against Midtjylland is incomparable.

“The first goal was, in terms of feelings from all my goals, the biggest in terms of emotions,” he added.

“It’s something that can’t be replaced: the first one is always going to be special to you.”