After 28 glorious years in the Premiership, Aston Villa have confirmed a place in the English Championship next season as they were beaten by Manchester United 1-0. It was Marcus Rashford strike that ensured the hosts maintain top four hopes and send hapless Villans down.
For a club like Manchester United that values itself in billions, it doesn’t look smart when they have to rely on an 18-year-old kid for any kind of joy and success.
But once again United manager Louis van Gaal needed Marcus Rashford to come to his rescue, even against an Aston Villa team whose ninth consecutive defeat confirmed relegation from the Premier League.
Van Gaal made five changes from the tough midweek FA Cup tie against West Ham but Rashford wasn’t among them. It proved the correct call with the teenage striker producing a brilliant first-time finish to settle the game after 32 minutes for his seventh goal in 12 games.
He was deservedly given a standing ovation when he departed near the end but nobody inside the one-time Theatre of Dreams was fooled by the rest of what they saw.
United fans jeered when Anthony Martial shielded the ball in the corner as United held on against one of the worst teams in Premier League history.
Even on in-house television channel MUTV, they didn’t hold back. ‘Of all the poor games at Old Trafford, that has to be in the top one,’ said the impassioned former United player and now pundit Paddy Crerand, who has seen plenty of them over half-a-century.
To credit Louis van Gaal, he didn’t hide from answering the tough questions afterwards even though victory kept the pressure on Manchester City in the race for a top-four finish.
‘I had to change the line-up and that had an influence. But I was surprised we could not lift ourselves and played too slowly,’ he said.