Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho heaped praise on Marcus Rashford’s desire to improve after the 19-year-old’s brilliant free-kick handed the English giants a 1-0 Europa League semifinal, first leg win at Celta Vigo on Thursday.
One moment of magic from the England international settled a tight encounter as he pulled his strike across Celta Vigo goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez into the far corner 23 minutes from time.
“The free-kick is work. He works every day. Sometimes the training session finished and he keeps working with my assistant,” said Mourinho.
“The free-kick is fantastic and I don’t think the goalkeeper has any chance because the shot is very fast.”
Rashford and United could have had more of an advantage to take back to Old Trafford for the second leg on 11 May.
Alvarez made a string of first-half saves to deny Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jese Lingard.
However, Mourinho praised Rashford’s ability to handle the pressure since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s season was ended by a cruciate ligament injury.
“He worked really hard and created them problems. He had a fantastic shot in the first half that (produced) a beautiful save,” added Mourinho.
“He is training a lot, he trains, he practices, he enjoys that extra work.
“Zlatan is not here, that position is not Paul (Pogba’s) favourite position and it is a great free-kick.
“The ball is very fast, the keeper made a movement and I think it is impossible to stop.”
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