Gareth Southgate was there at Old Trafford and so he lived the moment with the crowd, the England manager feeling the surge of hope as Marcus Rashford flicked on the afterburners. It was the Tuesday before last, Manchester United v Galatasaray in the Champions League, the tie level at 1-1 in the 53rd minute and Rashford had blazed on to a Christian Eriksen pass.
When he reached the ball eight yards or so outside the area, on the right-hand side, the nearest defender, Angeliño, was a similar distance back. At which point something strange happened, something that would not have happened last season and which shone a light on Rashford’s current headspace.
