Marcus Rashford reflects on the emotions of playing for his boyhood club

Marcus Rashford has reflected on the start of his senior career at Manchester United.

Rashford joined the Red Devils in 2005 as a Wythenshawe-born United fan, desperate to work his way through the ranks at Carrington and eventually pull on the red shirt for the first team.

He made his debut in 2016 under Louis van Gaal at 18 years old. Rashford netted braces on both his European and Premier League debut, displaying his prolific goalscoring ability in front of the Old Trafford faithful.

Nowadays, the 25-year-old has cemented his place on the United team sheet and hit a personal landmark against West Ham in October, when his winning header marked his 100th goal for the Reds.

Don’t forget the best weekend accumulator tip from footystats because we’re sure they fancy Rashford to find the net in Qatar.

The United fans have a special relationship with Rashford, given that he’s ‘one of our own’. To see a player come through the academy for the team he loves and supports, and excel at what he does, brings a great sense of pride to supporters and the club.

He’s reminded of it every match too, as his chant regularly rings around the Theatre of Dreams, which states he’s “born to play in red and white” and that “like Manchester, Rashford is red”.

Rashford describes emotions of playing at Old Trafford

In an interview with Danny Webber via the Man Utd website, he said: “Obviously, being a fan, you feel everything that the lads are feeling watching the game [at home].

“Sometimes you just get carried away – sometimes it’s happiness, sometimes it’s anger. But you just have to try and find a fine line, because it definitely affects your performance and your decision-making.
 
“It’s weird. It’s obviously impossible, but I have to try and block the fans out for me to keep my emotions in check. Because if I don’t, automatically it’s just natural for me to feel what they feel. And you can’t be on that rollercoaster.”
The Englishman detailed his first experience of Anfield against rivals Liverpool, when he almost received a red card for an early challenge on Alberto Moreno.

I almost got sent off against Liverpool in my first game at Anfield, straight from kick-off!

“They played it back to the centre-half, then to the lad [at full-back]. I’ve gone to block it and I’ve just took him out, like two seconds after he’s kicked the ball! 
“I just remember all the fans shouting: ‘Off, off!’ I didn’t think it was a red. I didn’t think it was a yellow, but the ref was like: ‘Yellow.’ I think I’d played like 10-20 games for the club, so I thought I could deal with it, but that was a moment where I realised it [the emotion] was something you have to work on.”On playing at Old Trafford and keeping his emotions concealed on the pitch, he added: “It took me probably a year for me to be able to fully be able to do it It’s harder than what people might think it is, because there’s 75,000 people there in close proximity.

“I have a strong connection with this stadium and there’s a lot of emotions going on at once. But after a year or so, it  helped me playing so many games, being in that environment over and over again helps you improve quicker.

“But it was a shock to me – how connected you stay to that feeling of just being a fan.”

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