“But I have to build him up in the games and that’s not so easy because he only had two training sessions with me – the first day with the second team and the second day with us”.
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His 64th-minute opener meant that, at 18 years and 117 days, he is the club’s youngest scorer in Europe. I hope the fans understand that.
“He is exhausted and he can be exhausted because he is 20 years old and he has played all the matches”.
“I thought he was terrific all night and showed what he’s capable of, so now it’s up to him to do that consistently on a week-to-week basis and I’m sure he can do that”.
“As well as taking players on for a youngster, there was just something about him”.
However the winger’s ability was there for everyone to see against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League on Thursday night, and Van Gaal is now hoping he can take confidence from that performance and kick on. “We are struggling if we can not produce 11 fantastic players for our England team, aren’t we?” Champion Sevilla, chasing a third successive title, will play Basel, while Valencia, which has enjoyed a recent resurgence under English coach Gary Neville, faces an all-Spanish tie against Athletic Bilbao.
United’s reliance on youth is borne out of necessity due to the club’s injury crisis, although Rashford had been so far down the pecking order that his name did not even appear on the back of the matchday programme. It’s something of a whirlwind for a player who, before Thursday, had never started a game above under-19 level, and signed a professional contract at United only in 2014.
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (left) with the “class of 92” – Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes.
Van Gaal praised Martial for ruling himself out of the tie as he could have made it worse.
“I don’t know about Anthony Martial”, van Gaal said.
“We have a bunch of talented players who can produce and get into the national side and go and win the World Cup”, added Gaynord.
Will Van Gaal turn things around at Old Trafford?
Van Gaal called the speculation around his position, and being potentially replaced by Jose Mourinho, “an absolute scandal”.
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“I expect [De Gea] because I saw already that he was today…”
