What Happened Between Rashford & Martial Before The Frenchman Took The Penalty

Marcus Rashford, now accustomed to stealing headlines across the pages, managed to do one better on Wednesday with an excellent hat-trick against RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

The fixture was expected to be a tricky affair for Manchester United and indeed for the first 60 minutes or so the German side did make life hard for them.

However, the introduction of Rashford from the bench changed everything and the forward simply could not stop scoring goals.

In fact, several were surprised when he chose to not step up and take the penalty kick when the opportunity presented itself and he was already two goals up in the 87^th minute.

Instead, it was Anthony Martial who executed the task and made no mistake about it.

In a post-game interview, Rashford explained the discussion he had with Martial prior to the kick, particularly since he was the one who had placed the ball.

Speaking to BT Sport, Rashford opened up about the talk: “A little bit, a little bit. I feel confident with Anthony taking them as well. So no problem.”

A real team move from the 22-year-old who placed the importance of netting the penalty over getting his hattrick.

Much to his delight, however, he did not have to wait too long for his third goal as a well-delivered pass from Martial himself found his feet in the second minute of added time and the forward had his first senior hattrick to his name.

The entire fixture was a great one for tallies all round. Mason Greenwood got his first Champions League goal while Martial’s penalty was actually his first goal of the campaign.

It is certainly crucial for the Frenchman’s confidence to have opened his tally this way and that speaks further about Rashford’s gesture of letting him take the penalty.