Louis Van Gaal gives update on Martial injury after Manchester United's victory over FC Midtjylland
Louis Van Gaal has said that Martial’s injury is not serious and he should recover soon. The 19-year old was injured during the warm up befoe the game against Midtjylland as a result of which 18-year-old youngster Marcus Rahsford was handed his debut.
After the match Louis Van Gaal spoke to the media about the injury saying, “The first impression is that it [the injury] is not heavy, He is tired and he can be tired because he is 20 and he has played all the matches. What is remarkable is that he stepped down himself.”
The Dutch manager did not want to risk his forward after the Frenchman voluntarily stepped out of training. But it turned out to be a dream debut for his replacement Rashford as he got on the scoresheet twice.
There were doubts that Martial's injury might have been a muscular one but the manager seemed reassured that it wasn’t a serious injury saying, “I don't think Martial has a muscle injury because he stepped down when he felt his hamstring was tight.”
United are faced with an injury crisis with 14 first team player currently injured thus, forcing Van Gaal to name an unfamiliar lineup with five youngsters featuring in yesterday’s game. The Red Devils have now lost two players to injury in the warm up with De Gea injured in the away tie. Van Gaal was bemused by the situation and said he was left with no choice.
"It is ridiculous to lose two players in the warm-up against the same opposition, but we had to keep going and we did.”, he said “Martial and De Gea have played very good seasons and they have to be replaced - but we are replacing them because we are in the next round”, added the manager.
Dream Debut for Rashford as United thrash Midtjylland
With Martial the next player to join United’s long injury list Van Gaal threw youngster Rashford straight into the mix. United conceded within 27 minutes after Pione Sisto scored for the visitors. But United were level five minutes later after Nikolay Bodurov put it into his own net.
Mata missed a penalty when in the first half as the scores remained level at half-time. But United turned up the heat in the second half with Rashford scoring twice, first with a tap in and then scoring with a half-volley 12 minutes later. Herera and Depay completed the rout to put the hosts through to the next round