He is a striker in the form of his life, at the coronary heart of Manchester United’s revival under Erik ten Hag.
Marcus Rashford struggled for recreation time at United remaining season but has already scored 25 goals in this one as they journey to Liverpool this afternoon (Sunday), searching to stay in the name race.
During Sky Sports’ insurance of the Carabao Cup very last win over Newcastle at Wembley a week ago, United defender Phil Jones (remember him?) defined his team-mate as “probably, on modern form, the best participant in the world”.
It turned into a big claim… and it were given us thinking: well, is this a view shared across Europe? Have observers on the continent taken be aware of Rashford’s warm streak? Or is this a classic case of British over-exuberance?
As United additionally put together to host Spanish side Real Betis on Thursday in the first leg of a Europa League last 16 tie, we asked our experts.
Italy — ‘He become a ghost. Now for Ten Hag, he’s as top as Mbappe’
Rashford turned into the first England player to miss in the penalty shootout towards Italy in the European Championship final in July 2021. Brought on overdue in more time specially for the penalties, the final results changed into unfortunate, however, the Italian media nevertheless focused on their goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s heroics in saving as a substitute than his attempt which hit the put up (as Donnarumma dived the different way).
Rashford changed into eclipsed then, and Italian interest in him faded. Even this year, United’s absence from the Champions League means visibility and attention there aren’t what they may want to be for their players.
Marco D’Ottavi of l’Ultimo Uomo, the online bible for ‘calcio cognoscenti’, discovered that as recently as six months ago, Rashford’s time appeared to have come and gone in Italian eyes. “Not finished, sure, but let’s say he’d left the band — like John Frusciante,” an allusion to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ guitarist and Enrico Brizzi’s similarly-titled novel.
The Rashford renaissance has, to a confined degree, captured the creativeness in Italy.
“He become a ghost,” became the headline of a dispatch from La Gazzetta dello Sport’s UK correspondent Davide Chinellato around Christmas time. “Now for Ten Hag, he’s as true as Kylian Mbappe.”
What about for Serie A’s clubs? Is he held in high esteem?
Unlike attitudes in England, where evaluations have traditionally been shaped on the absurdity of whether or not or now not a participant ought to do it on a moist and windy night in Stoke or, as in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s case, handiest after they ‘do it’ against England, there is appreciate and reverence in Italy for the Premier League. It is well-known that, as with Serie A in the 1990s, England’s top flight is the maximum aggressive home league in the world. As a consequence, greater weight is given to performances by players in this context.
Antonio Cassano made the equal factor at the same time as discussing AC Milan’s reigning Serie A MVP Rafa Leao on Bobo TV, the Twitch broadcast he stars in beside fellow ex-pros Christian Vieri, Daniele Adani and Nicola Ventola.
Mockingly dubbed the Oracle of Bari on social media for the number of times his predictions blow up in his face, Cassano’s opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt but he’s entitled to it and it is worth a listen anyway.
“Serie A is the fifth-best league in Europe,” Cassano has said. “At City, they have Jack Grealish, so why couldn’t Leao be there too? I don’t see him starting for a pinnacle membership in Europe.
“Take Liverpool. They have Luis Diaz and you’re saying Leao could get a game… madness! Rashford is a an awful lot better player than Leao.”
And Cassano aired that opinion a few weeks earlier than Rashford’s season caught fire. One can most effective consider what he thinks now. Maybe he’ll name his next toddler Marcus, given he named one Lionel after Messi.
The calcio conversation in Italy stays ruled by way of activities in Serie A and for that reason, the obsession there is now not with Rashford however Victor Osimhen, simply as it turned into with Dusan Vlahovic, Leao and Tammy Abraham remaining yr and Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez the yr earlier than that.
Thanks for reading: Marcus Rashford, the view from Europe: ‘He was a ghost – now he’s elite’, Sorry, my English is bad:)