Rashford cools the heat on Greenwood

Four years ago, it was Rashford who was the young goalscoring darling capturing hearts and minds at Manchester United and wowing the nation with his stunning impact after his debut.

The Mancunian was 18 himself when he kicked off his senior Reds career, with two goals against FC Midtjylland at Old Trafford in the Europa League and followed up with another two against Arsenal at home in the Premier League during the next match, three days later in February 2016.

Now it is another Academy product, 18-year-old Greenwood, who is attracting much of the attention.

The plaudits are coming thick and fast for the young Englishman and his two goals against Bournemouth in the Reds' 5-2 win brought his season tally to a fantastic 15.

And Rashford understands the glaring spotlight Greenwood is now under but won’t add to the heat.

Asked if the England Under-21 international could be the best youngster to emerge from the Academy, Rashford tentatively agreed but added: “Left foot, right foot. He can finish on whatever side is comfortable for him. But, I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on him, I’d just let him play his football,” Marcus told BT Sport after the Bournemouth win.

“Like you saw today, that’s what he does, he scores goals when other people can’t score goals. It’s a big bonus for us to have him in the squad.”

Greenwood’s two, Rashford’s penalty and Anthony Martial’s stunner in the win meant manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s young strike force have grabbed 55 goals between them this season.

But Marcus has stressed that it is not a competition between the trio.

“No, for us, it doesn’t matter who’s scoring, as long as someone is, and putting the points on the table,” said our no.10.

“When we’re all on goalscoring form and Mason has been on fire, Anthony has been on fire, so it’s always positive for teams if their forwards are scoring.

“They’ve been brilliant all season and it’s important to keep that going and to push on.

“It’s definitely enjoyable when you win games, but just to be playing at Old Trafford week in, week out is an amazing feeling. The lads enjoyed it today and these are the types of performances we want to be putting in - a bit better defensively, but it’s football. It’s definitely exciting times.”

United were shocked twice as Bournemouth scored early on in both halves at Old Trafford as the Reds suffered a few defensive wobbles.

“We recognise them [the mistakes] and we move on and just try and rectify them,” said Marcus. “We’re not always going to score five goals in a game - sometimes we might only score one and we need to make sure we’re not conceding.”

Greenwood, meanwhile, was awarded our Man of the Match with 71 per cent of the vote, ahead of another of the scorers, Bruno Fernandes (23%), in second place.

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