The 18-year-old produced a stunning display in front of goal and his manager revealed it was his instructions that led to the lethal showing
Louis van Gaal took credit for Marcus Rashford's goalscoring heroics in Manchester United's 5-1 win over Midtjylland in Thursday's Europa League second-leg victory.
The Red Devils sealed an emphatic aggregate victory over the Danes in the last 32 thanks in part to Rashford's brace on his debut, with the 18-year-old only coming into the starting XI because of Anthony Martial's last-minute injury.
The academy player went on to spark a United comeback after they had gone a goal down early on, netting his brace in the space of 12 second-half minutes to overtake George Best as the club's youngest goalscorer in Europe.
And, after praising Rashford's impact as "fantastic", Van Gaal has now revealed that it was his advice at half time that led to the youngster's decisive contributions.
"In the first half he ran too much, too much on the sidelines," the Dutchman told BT Sport after the match.
"I said at half-time, 'You have to be within the width of the goal and you shall score,' and you see he scores two goals, it is fantastic for him."
Previously-goal-shy United have now netted eight goals in their last two games, boosting confidence levels ahead of their daunting game against Premier League leaders Arsenal at the weekend.
- Goal