soccer

Memorable debuts and Rashford's lucky break

[BBC]
Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs celebrate a goal against Fenerbahce
[Getty Images]

As it's 10 years since Marcus Rashford scored twice on his Manchester United debut, it seems debut chat is the order of the day.

If we are talking memorable debuts, nothing can surpass Wayne Rooney's for United.

The striker joined United from Everton in a £27m deal in the summer of 2004 but his first game was delayed as he recovered from the broken foot he suffered at that summer's Euros.

There was some pent up frustration simmering away as he finally pulled on that famous red jersey against Fenerbahce in the Champions League.

United were already ahead when Rooney scored his first after 17 minutes at Old Trafford. He netted a second nine minutes later and there was no way he was letting his more experienced team-mates take the free-kick on the edge of the area nine minutes into the second period which he curled home brilliantly to complete his hat-trick.

The amazing thing about Rashford's debut was if events had turned out slightly differently, he might not even have been in Louis van Gaal's squad.

Will Keane had been on the bench at Shrewsbury the previous Monday but he got injured, so Rashford was drafted in for the Midtjylland game.

He wasn't in the starting line-up though. That only happened when Anthony Martial suffered an injury in the warm-up. Van Gaal turned to Rashford and the rest is history.

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