Manchester United 2-1 CSKA Moscow: 5 Talking Points

Modified Dec 05, 2017 23:05 GMT

Manchester United scored 2 goals in the span of 66 seconds to see off CSKA Moscow

#1 Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku are a menace together

Marcus Rashford hadn't scored in 9 of his previous appearances and Romelu Lukaku had found the net only once in his last 6. And the hunger of the two goal-deprived forwards was there for all to see.

Marcus Rashford took the CSKA defenders out for far too many spins with his dancing feet as he frolicked and slalomed his way past them with ease and grace. Romelu Lukaku's intelligent runs and immense presence tormented the CSKA defence.

Lukaku and Rashford combined well with each other and the midfield duo of Pogba and Mata to create several goalscoring opportunities out of which they finished off 2. Lukaku started off the move for Rashford's goal after flicking on a long ball from Sergio Romero for Juan Mata to pick up.

The pace, game intelligence and physical presence that Jose's forwards brought to the game was often a bit much for the opposition defenders to handle and it is the same hunger that the manager will want to see when his side takes on bitter rivals Manchester City on Sunday.

The goals will do them a world of good. With Lukaku and Rashford toying with central defenders and Anthony Martial getting up to his usual savagery on the left flank, United may be, after all, able to pose a considerable threat to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the absence of Paul Pogba.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Amit Mishra