Ahead of England’s friendly against Brazil at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford revealed that he modeled his game after Ronaldo. Not Cristiano Ronaldo, CR7, the Portugese superstar, but Ronaldo the Brazilian legend. Ronaldo was Rashford’s inspiration, and also the favorite player of his brother Dwaine.
It was the main reason that Rashford watched him so much during his youth.
“That’s why I’ve grown up watching so much of him and his games,” Rashford said.
“It’s all those clips on YouTube and my first ever game that I saw live, he was playing in it. I always remember it. It was in 2003 and scored a hat trick. I was only young, though.”
Rashford was referencing a 2003 Champions League quarterfinal in April 2003 at Old Trafford. Manchester United beat Real Madrid 4-3 that day, but the result of the other leg meant that a Ronaldo hat trick was enough to power Los Blancos through.
“He was obviously a top player who won a lot of things in his career, so when you know he’s saying good things about you then it really stands out. He always played free. No matter where he was playing, he played free and went out there and expressed himself. When you do that, that’s when you play your best football.”
The feeling of admiration is mutual too, as Ronaldo did say in May of 2016 that he really sees some of himself in the young, up-and-coming United scorer.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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