Manchester United’s 2020-21 Champions League campaign off to a great start, after a 2-1 win over PSG on opening day at Le Parc des Princes, Red Devils thrashed German side RB Leipzig 5 – 0 at Old Trafford on Wednesday 28th October. This will be United’s biggest win in the Champions League since 2013.
Marcus Rashford, who scored 88 minute winner at Le Parc des Princes once again comes big in Champions League home opener with a hat-trick after replacing Mason Greenwood in 63 minute . This is first Hat-trick for Rashford in United colors and he become only the second Man Utd player to score a hat-trick as a substitute, The first? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer vs Nottingham Forest in February 1999.
It just took 27 minutes to score a Hat-trick for Rashford and he became just the fifth player in Champions League history to score a hat-trick as a substitute, with his 27 minutes on the pitch the fewest number played whilst also netting a treble in the competition’s history. Leader.
Marcus Rashford joins an elite club of United legends Andy Cole, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Robin van Persie after scoring Champions Leaue Hat-trick.
Van De Beek starts, Bruno Fernandes on the Bench
United Manager Ole wanted to give Bruno Fernandes & Marcus Rashford much needed break, so he put the star duo on the bench and started Donny van de Beek & Mason Greenwood in place of them.
Mason Greenwood didn’t waste the opportunity, as the youngster opened the scoring for United in 21 minute. Pogba slips in Greenwood in the left channel and the United youngster needs only one touch to finish low and across Gulácsi. It surprisingly youngster’s first Champions League goal and 6th goal in UEFA competitions in 11 matches.
United took 1-0 lead into the Half-time break, Solskjær’s latest change in formation has worked well for United, with Pogba and Van de Beek particularly impressive in more advanced midfield roles.
Nagelsmann’s side took a while to get into the game and find themselves behind at the break, but have given a good account of themselves so far. Their possession and pressing has been good, but they’ve struggled to break down United’s compact defensive line.
Rashford & United rout Leipzig in the final 27 minutes
United Manager Ole, who is Head coaching his 50th game in UEFA competition tonight made two important substitutions in the 63 minute. He replaced Greenwood with Rashford on the right, McTominay replaced Matic in the center of mid-field.
Leipzig came close to equalize in 65 minute, but Konaté’s close-range header was deflected out by De Gea’s smart reaction. Bruno Fernandes replaced Dutch man Van De Beek in the 68 minute for United’s third substitution of the night.
In 74 minute United doubled his lead, Rashford races on to Bruno Fernandes’ searching through ball and calmly strokes past Gulácsi for his first goal of the night. Four minutes later Rashford added another goal to his tally, when Sabitzer is dispossessed by Fred and the ball breaks to Rashford, who breezes past Upamecano before drilling into the bottom corner.
Martial scores United’s fourth goal of the night from the penalty spot after French man was brought down by Sabitzer inside the box in 85th minute. Rashford completes his Hat-trick in the injury time (90+2 minute), Martial cuts in from the left and plays the ball square to Rashford, who controls before finishing to complete his first senior hat-trick.
Post-Match Comments :
Marcus Rashford, Manchester United forward:
“It was a great performance. That’s the sort of performance we aspire to. We need to keep going in that fashion and take our momentum into our next few games. It was great to score a hat-trick. You obviously hope to make an impact from the bench and it couldn’t have gone much better for me.”
“We’ve got six points now after playing two very good teams. We’re in a great position in the group and hopefully we can take that form into the Premier League. It was important to get that first home win of the season. This place has to be a fortress, so it was vital to get the win. Hopefully it’ll be the first of many here this season.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Manchester United manager:
“Leipzig are an incredible team with pressure and intensity, but I thought we were excellent. We were very focused, the players knew it would be difficult. Every team goes to win every game of football. I think we do better when we focus on ourselves, and that’s what we did tonight. I think the result was a bit flattering, but when you have played like we have we can cause them problems.”
“Marcus was fantastic. He worked so hard after coming on and made an incredible impact. You hope you can make an impact off the bench, and when you’ve got players like that in reserve it’s great for us.”
Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann :
“The result doesn’t feel good and looks worse than it was. I thought we played quite well after their opener, won plenty of the ball. Our play in the final third simply wasn’t good enough. We weren’t clinical enough, lost the ball too often. We had a lot more in us.”
“We started well after the break, but then the second goal went in and we just stopped defending. That’s the only complaint I can make today. It would have been good to have maintained our defensive structure and taken a 2-0 loss. That wouldn’t have been a big deal, but 5-0 isn’t a big deal either. It happens. It has happened to some other teams too. We need to learn from the last 20 minutes, otherwise it wasn’t so bad.”
