Marcus Rashford assisted twice against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday to secure a 5-0 aggregate win in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
THE BIG LOSER: Hoping to help lead a comeback against his former club, Jesse Lingard was ruled out of Nottingham Forest’s line-up minutes before the match with an injury.
MATCH IN FOUR PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT FOR MAN UTD? Manchester United will play Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final on February 26, but have several fixtures before then, including a game against Crystal Palace this Saturday.
TELL ME MORE: Nottingham Forest produced a handful of half-chances, most notably a close-range shot from Emmanuel Dennis likely on its way past Tom Heaton before it struck team-mate Sam Surridge. But at Old Trafford, with Erik ten Hag fielding a strong line-up that included Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, there was little chance of the visitors ever putting a scare into the Red Devils. In fact, the biggest worry for Ten Hag was when any of his players grimaced with minor knocks, none of which proved serious enough to force substitutions.
Wout Weghorst struck the post with a header just before half-time, one of three or four decent opportunities Manchester United didn’t take before Anthony Martial pounced on a bouncing ball in the box and Fred kneed a Marcus Rashford cross into an open net.
THE MVP: Jadon Sancho received a nice reception when he came on as a substitute in his first appearance since October 22, but Marcus Rashford was the real star off the bench with two assists in three minutes, plus some nice running at defenders. Looks like the start of February hasn’t changed his form whatsoever!
