Beating Belgium proves England can match top sides – Rashford
Marcus Rashford believes England’s Nations League victory over Belgium proved to the players they have what it takes to beat the top international sides.
T h e T h re e L i o n s c a m e back from a goal down to beat Belgium – ranked number one in the world – 2-1.
Rashford equalised from th e p e n a l ty s p ot a f te r h i s former Manchester United team-mate Romelu Lukaku had opened the scoring for the visitors at an empty Wembley with his spot-kick.
England were second best for periods of the match but emerged victorious courtesy of Mason Mount’s deflected strike just after the hour.
The result means Gareth Southgate’s side now sit top of Group A2 head ing into Wednesday’s visit of Denmark and Rashford thinks beating the likes of Belgium gives added belief to the squad moving forward.
“It is definitely a nice feeling,” he said.
“It is something we have had to prove to ourselves – that we can actually go on and beat these teams.
“Too many times we’ve drawn or just fallen short and been beaten against the best teams but we managed to get over that line and it is a massive win for us, it will do a lot for us.”
Rashford’s goal and the s u b s e qu e n t w i n e n d e d a fine individual week for the 22-year-old, who was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s
Honours List for his efforts in helping secure free meals for vulnerable children during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is a obviously a great feeling,” he said.
“(It is) a really proud mo
ment, it has capped off a nice week and for me now it is just about going to win the last game.”
Asked whether his goal was a good reply to detractors of his award who told the for
ward to concentrate solely on his football, Rashford replied: “For me it is just about doing as well as you can on the pitch.
“It comes dow n to j ust wo rk i n g h a rd , th e re a re games when you don’t play as well as you want to like the first-half but we dug deep and found a way to win the game.”
Southgate named an initial 30-man squad for the two Nations League games and the 3-0 friendly win over
Wales last week.
Four players made their debuts against Ryan Giggs’ side while the likes of Kyle Walker and Mount vindicated their selection in the win over Belgium.