The redemption of Marcus Rashford

In July last year Marcus Rashford was being consoled on the pitch by his England team-mates after missing a penalty in the European Championship final shoot-out defeat against Italy. Sixteen months on from that loss at Wembley, the pictures tell a different story for the Manchester United striker, who has played a starring role as the Three Lions have roared into the knockout stages of the Fifa World Cup.

Scoring just a minute after coming on as a substitute in the 6-2 win over Iran, the 25-year-old added another two goals in last night’s 3-0 victory against Wales – the first of which was a stunning free-kick which flew into the top corner.

One of the “deadliest forwards in the world right now”, Rashford looks “a player reborn”, said Liam Canning on Forbes. And once again he is “playing with a smile on his face”.

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Confidence was ‘shattered’

It’s not all been smiles for the England and Man Utd star though. In the aftermath of the Euro final defeat, Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, who also missed from the spot against Italy, were the targets of racist abuse. He has also “struggled for fitness and confidence” at club and international level, said Jacob Steinberg in The Guardian.

Rashford has taken “a long and sometimes painful” road to repair the confidence that “looked shattered at points recently”, said Phil McNulty on the BBC. Against Wales though he resembled someone reaching a “journey's end” as he inspired England into the last 16.

With three goals in three games Rashford is now the joint-leading scorer at the World Cup, but Gareth Southgate admitted last night that it’s been “a challenge” for him. England have a completely “different version” to the player they had at the Euros last summer, the Three Lions boss added. “It’s great for him and it’s great for us.”

This was “Rashford’s redemption”, said the BBC’s World Cup Daily podcast.

He ‘must start’ in the knockouts

A “class act” off the pitch as well as on it, Rashford is one of the game’s “genuine good guys”, said Planet Football. And alongside his achievements as a player, he’s also made many front page headlines, especially with his work during the Covid-19 crisis campaigning for children to receive free school meals.

However, while “hopelessly out of form” for much of last season, some critics suggested that he had become “distracted by campaigning”, while others believed that he should “focus more on taking on football opponents instead of the government”, said Sean Ingle in The Guardian. Even his biggest fans “wondered whether his mojo would ever return”.

With his mojo now back, Rashford’s performance in the group B finale has given Southgate a “nice” selection problem ahead of Sunday’s last-16 clash, said Sami Mokbel in the Daily Mail. The big question is “how can he drop Rashford after this?”.

If Southgate wants “goal contributions” from his forwards, it would “be hard to look past Rashford”, said Tom Gott on 90min.com. Playing with “confidence” and a “controlled, much-needed arrogance” once again, Rashford “must start” for England in the World Cup knockout stages.

Sunday’s Fifa World Cup round of 16 tie between England and Senegal takes place at the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar. Kick-off is at 7pm and the match will be live on ITV.