Marcus Rashford reveals manager Solskjaer's advice before his hat-trick against RB Leipzig
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford scored a 16-minute hat-trick in the club's Champions League clash against RB Leipzig on Wednesday, after coming on as a substitute.
Rashford and Bruno Fernandes started on the bench for the Red Devils and were tasked with increasing the tempo of Manchester United's play after their introductions.
Manchester United were leading 1-0 thanks to a well-taken goal by Mason Greenwood. The Old Trafford outfit were in control but without goals to back it up, and Leipzig were pushing to try and find an equalizer.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer called upon the services of Marcus Rashford just after an hour's play, before bringing on Bruno Fernandes five minutes later.
Marcus Rashford explains what Solskjaer said to his substitutes during Manchester United's 5-0 thumping of RB Leipzig
Marcus Rashford revealed after the match that Solskjaer had told his substitutes to get their forward players on the ball and make the game safe.
"The manager told us when we came on to up the tempo. For us it means going forward. There were definitely spaces there and today we managed to find passes. We got Bruno on the ball, Paul on the ball, Anto running forward. We looked dangerous and like we were going to score every time we went forward," Rashford said.
Rashford's hat-trick helped Manchester United seal a 5-0 win, which sees them take full control of their Champions League group. The 22-year-old made sure to praise his entire team for the emphatic victory.
"It was a real team performance. The ones who started did well and the substitutes did well too. We cant ask for much more than that in terms of the attitude and the intent to go and kill the game off. It worked in our favor," he told BT Sport.
Marcus Rashford's hat-trick was the first by a Manchester United player since Robin Van Persie. The Englishman has caught the headlines in recent times with his social work, but has now turned up for the Red Devils on the football pitch when they needed him the most.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be hoping that Marcus Rashford and his Manchester United teammates take confidence from their performance against Leipzig into the weekend. United face Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Red Devils have had a poor start to the Premier League this season but seem to be getting back to their best.