Marcus Rashford had a lot of praise for Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Manchester United’s road match at Juventus in UEFA Champions League group stage play. However, at the same time, Rashford says he won’t be intimidated by playing against a figure that he deems “the biggest inspiration in football.”
Rashford, a local Manchester product, grew up starry-eyed for United sides that were at the height of club power.
“The thing that is a massive eye-opener for me now is I remember when he first came his talent was arguably one of the biggest talents that we’ve seen at United for a long time,” Rashford said.
“To have him and Wayne [Rooney] in the same team was amazing when you look back, but the way he’s sustained his career and even improved year on year is just amazing.”
“People don’t do that at his age, people are usually heading towards the end of their career and their level starts going down a little bit, but he’s just gone up and up and up. For me, there is no bigger inspiration in football.”
“I could speak for a lot of young players and United fans that watched the team when he was here and the majority of us have followed him as he’s moved on in his career and that’s what’s special about United.
“Once you play for this club you become part of this family even if you move on. There is always something that remains in your heart, you could see that when he returned from our fans.”
“When you play against a player like that you have to respect his qualities but at the same time you have to play your game and you can’t show fear to that type of player.”
United vs Juventus FYIs
MUFC Starting XI Prediction go to this link
Injury report for both teams: go to this link
Kickoff/TV: Wednesday November 7, 8pm BST, 3PM EST, BT Sport/TNT
Odds via Odds Checker: United 11/2, Draw 16/5, Juventus 8/13
Prediction: Juventus 2, United 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.