The call-up came in the morning, the goal in the evening. Marcus Rashford’s career is sufficiently stellar that he has had better days but not too many, and certainly not recently. His renaissance and rejuvenation were rubber-stamped by Gareth Southgate, naming him in England’s World Cup squad. A different sort of comeback featured a Rashford equaliser: twice behind against Aston Villa, Manchester United triumphed 4-2 by offering the kind of visceral entertainment that has characterised Rashford at his best.
His combination of pace and potency, his direct, high-speed running has meant that, from his debut, Rashford felt a player in United’s truest traditions, and not merely because he has helped extend the record of an academy graduate figuring in a first-team squad every match for 85 years. Perhaps it was uncoincidental that United’s worst season for more than three decades was the poorest of Rashford’s career.
