Marcus Rashford started Tuesday's huge Champions League quarterfinals second stage between Aston Villa and PSG, but has endured a moment to forget in the structure of the visitors' opening goal
Alan Shearer pointed to the debt on Marcus Rashford after Aston Villa had done a goal for PSG – before the loan of Manchester United Verlosten himself in a stunning way. Villa was able to give an early target on Tuesday evening after losing the first stage with 3-1 in Paris last week.
The Midlands side had threatened early, with Rashford picking up the ball on the edge of the PSG box. But a bad touch left PSG skipper Marquinhos to throw in and tackle him to steal the ball.
From there, the French champions delivered a brutal counterattack, with Nuno Mendes Bradley Barcola left. Barcola wore the ball to the edge of the box before he withdrew it in search of Ousmane Dembele.
Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez stretched out to intercept the cross, but could only push the ball on the path of Achraf Hakimi that shot in it. PSG 4-1 put that on aggregated after 11 minutes and gave a huge blow to Villa's hope for progress.
Although he admitted that Martinez had made a mistake, Shearer also excluded Rashford for his bad touch in attack. The Newcastle legend emphasized that moment as the most important phase in the PSG break.
“It was not a bad touch of Marcus Rashford. It was not. Only on the edge of the 18 -Yard box. I could see what he was trying to do. He tried to cut and bend it on that right foot,” said Shearer in commentary on Amazon Prime.
“But it was a bad touch with which Marquinhos could get the tackle. As soon as they won the ball, their first thought was 'ahead'. Villa was so open at the back, especially to the left of their right side.”
Rashford had started the game as the central striker of Villa, with Ollie Watkins surprisingly on the couch. The Engelsman spends the second half of the season on loan in Villa after he has come to them in the transfer window of January of Manchester United.
While Shearer pointed his finger at Rashford for his actions, United Legend Wayne Rooney insisted that he was not completely blamed. Instead, he felt that the attacker was left by his teammates.
“The first goal, they came in a really good position and it is exactly where you want Marcus Rashford. It's a bad first touch, but as an attacker you don't expect you to admit from there,” Rooney told Amazon Prime.
“From there I think that Kamara should stay in the middle of the field after he gave Matty Cash and she has given that balance, but he doesn't do it, he gambles and goes in. From there, cash does not run back fast enough and it is a very dangerous position. Very sloppy.”
It went from bad to worse for Villa 15 minutes after Hakimi's goal when PSG delivered a second. Again, the goal came from a counterattack, where Hakimi found Dembele on the right.
The Frenchman wore the ball in the box and unpacked Mendes, who threw in the bottom corner to put his side 5-1 to aggregated. Villa was able to withdraw to the end of a breathless first half.
Rashford then released itself, although in one of the most memorable comebacks of Champions League in recent years. He helped start the Vechtback while spending the ball to John McGinn, who then saved it for Youri Tielemans. The midfielder shot on goal, with his strike that Willian Pacho bounced off and past a helpless Gianluigi Donnarumma.
And then after the break, he was central when Villa shot in three minutes in three minutes to turn the game – and draw – upside down. First, McGinn shot in a deflated shot to deliver scores on the night before Rashford Ezri Konsa kept extremely to the front in the front of the Villa Park and only one goal of their illustrious French opponents on Aggregate.
Rashford was withdrawn for Ollie Watkins with Villa in a desperate search for a winner. But both Rashford and Villa remained briefed, but proud, while they left the competition.
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