Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford has helped Aston Villa reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
During his time at Manchester United, Marcus Rashford only reached the Champions League quarter-finals once in 2018/19 before being dumped out by Barcelona.
Rashford decided to leave United in January after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim. He completed a loan move to Aston Villa and has not looked back.
Rashford has been thriving at Villa this season. Despite not scoring for his new club so far, he has picked up four assists in his first nine games.
His latest assist came on Wednesday evening when Rashford started in Villa’s 3-0 win over Club Brugge. Having already earned a 3-1 lead in the first leg, they comfortably reached the quarter-finals, where they will now face Paris Saint-Germain – a team Rashford will have good memories against.
Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Unai Emery spots ‘fantastic’ Marcus Rashford moment vs Club Brugge
Villa scored three times in 11 minutes to put the game well beyond Brugge, but they had to wait until the second half before breaking the deadlock.
However, Brugge played most of the game with 10 men with Kyriani Sabbe sent off after just 16 minutes for his last-man challenge on Rashford.
Villa boss Unai Emery has been full of praise for Rashford since he completed his loan move, and he called the 27-year-old “fantastic” for his role in the red card.
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“We couldn’t dominate the ball in the first half. But we provoke the red card because this action we did was caused by a long ball behind,” Emery said.
“Marcus Rashford did fantastic, and the ball from Emiliano Martinez was fantastic.”
Marcus Rashford will return to Parc des Princes
Manchester United have only reached the Champions League quarter-finals once in the past decade, and the last time they progressed beyond that point was when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side reached the final in 2011.
Rashford now has the chance to help his Villa side reach the final four if he can beat Paris Saint-Germain – a team he boasted a great record against while at United.
Rashford has faced PSG four times in his career and scored three goals – the most memorable coming during that night in Paris under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
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Solskjaer’s side completed an unlikely comeback at PSG’s Parc des Princes in 2019 with Rashford scoring a last-gasp penalty to help United into the quarter-finals.
It was United’s best moment under Solskjaer and a fond memory for many United fans. Seeing Rashford return to Paris not in the red of United will be a strange feeling.