Reuters
London, Feb 26: Manchester United’s teenage striker Marcus Rashford was a late inclusion against Midtjylland in Thursday’s Europa League clash after a team mate was injured during the warm up and delivered two goals in a 5-1 win for a dream debut.
The 18-year-old Manchester-born player netted twice in 12 second half minutes at Old Trafford’s famous Stretford End to put United in control of a last 32 tie that seemed to be drifting away for them after they lost the first leg 1-2.
“A dream debut, amazing feeling to score twice and contribute to the team. Onto the next round,” Rashford tweeted, while United’s under-pressure Dutch manager Louis van Gaal said that the youngster gave a great performance.
Rashford, who replaced Antony Martial after the Frenchman injured his hamstring before kick-off, made his first from close range after 63 minutes off a Juan Mata cross and then converted Guillermo Varela’s centre on the half-volley for his second.
Rashford’s opener meant that, at 18 years and 117 days, he became the club’s youngest scorer in Europe, eclipsing the great George Best (18 years and 158 days) who netted in a 6-1 win over Djurgarden in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in October 1964.
The Danish champions had taken the lead through Pione Sisto but Midtjylland’s Nikolay Bodurov scored an own goal before Mata missed a penalty as United seemed set to struggle again. But then Rashford rescued them before an Ander Herrera penalty and late Memphis Depay strike wrapped up a 6-3 aggregate victory.
Meanwhile in another game, five times European champions Liverpool were made to sweat before reaching the last 16, with an early penalty securing a 1-0 second-leg victory over Augsburg at Anfield.
Having played out a goalless draw in the first leg, Juergen Klopp’s side spurned several chances after James Milner’s early spot-kick and survived a nervy finale to book a place in the next round.
There was no such tension for Gary Neville’s Valencia whose recent upturn in form continued with a 4-0 win at Rapid Vienna to complete a 10-0 aggregate success, while Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, Lazio and Bayer Leverkusen also progressed.
Shakhtar completed a superb 3-0 win at Schalke, while Bilbao’s Sabin Merino scored an 81st-minute equaliser as they drew 1-1 at home to Olympique de Marseille and went through 2-1 on aggregate.
Lazio beat Galatasaray 3-1 in Italy with all four goals coming in 14 second half minutes as Marco Parolo, Felipe Anderson and Miroslav Klose netted for the Serie A side, who went through 4-2 over the two legs.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi again proved decisive in their tie with Sporting Lisbon as the Germany international, who scored the winner in the first leg, netted two more in a 3-1 win that secured a 4-1 aggregate success.
