Marcus Rashford has surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo’s as Manchester United’s sixth highest goal scorer in European football.
The England international netted his 27th goal of the campaign with a wonderful long-range strike to give Erik ten Hag’s side the lead at Real Betis. Rashford, who had also given United the lead in the first leg at Old Trafford, has now moved up to 25 goals for the club on the European stage.
That moved Rashford above Ronaldo, who ended his relationship with United by mutual consent in November following a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan. The Portuguese star completed a stunning move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in January and is expected to earn in the region of £173million per year.
Two of Ronaldo’s three goals for United this season had come in the Europa League – netting in each leg against Moldovan outfit FC Sheriff Tiraspol. He had scored a penalty in Moldova before scoring from close range in the home match – which proved to be his final goal for the Red Devils.
Of course, many of the 38-year-old’s European goals for the club came in the Champions League. All 22 of his strikes on the European stage before this season came in Europe’s premier club competition, where he is the all-time leading scorer due to his exploits with United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Yet he has slipped to seventh on United’s overall list of European scorers, with Rashford moving up to six goals in the Europa League this season and 25 overall for the club across the top continental tournaments.
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Next in Rashford’s sights is legendary United midfielder Paul Scholes, who is now just one goal above him in the European goal scoring charts. Scholes bagged 26 goals in his glorious European career with United, two goals behind iconic forward Denis Law (28) who is fourth on the club’s list.
Former winger Ryan Giggs (29) goals is third in the rankings but the top two of the club are well out in front; second-placed Ruud van Nistelrooy scored an eye-catching 38 goals across European competitions for United, with his former strike partner Wayne Rooney topping the list on 39 goals.
That means that Rashford is still 14 goals from top spot but, aged just 25, he will still believe that he has plenty of time left to close down that gap – and will be eyeing several more this season, with United advancing through to the Europa League quarter finals.
