It s March 2016. Excitement and expectation are through the roof for one particular teenager ahead of his first Manchester derby.

The local lad had already risen to the occasion in the Europa League and against Arsenal, but this was a far bigger deal for the 18-year-old who d grown up a Manchester United fan.

Marcus Rashford started in attack with Antony Martial and their pace and mobility proving a lethal combination, particularly with respect to the former.

Highlighting his ice-cold mentality on the big stage, Rashford was decisive. Roasting Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis in the 16th minute, the striker nutmegged him at pace and left the experienced centre-back for dead before clinically dispatching past Joe Hart.

If onlookers hadn t sat up …

West Ham United have rejected an offer from Fiorentina for defender Pedro Obiang, according to the Mirror.

The Serie A side were looking to give the twenty-six-year old an opportunity to return to Italy, where he played for five years ahead of his move to the Hammers in the summer of 2015.

However, the London side have no intention of parting company with the former Sampdoria man, who has played eighteen times across all competitions so far this season.

Obiang recently passed one hundred appearances for West Ham while he has scored three goals during that time – two of which came last term.

Having represented Spain at youth levels he made his senior debut for Equatorial Guinea in a 1-0 defeat to Senegal last November.

Manuel Pellegrini’s…

Burnley scored twice in the opening nine minutes en route to a 2-1 victory over Leicester City that propels the Clarets significantly closer to a potential place in Europe next season.

These two sides came into Saturday s clash at Turf Moor separated by six points in the race for seventh, which will be enough for a place in the Europa League qualifying rounds if struggling Southampton do not upset the odds and prevail from an FA Cup semi-final line-up also comprising Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham.

And early goals from Chris Wood and Kevin Long stretched the Clarets advantage over their eighth-placed opponents to nine points with five matches remaining.

Wood, who won the Championship with Leicester ahead of Burnley in 2013-14, netted his fifth goa…

Erik ten Hag will have an early chance to test his Manchester United team against European heavyweights after a clash with Atletico Madrid was revealed.

On the weekend before the Premier League season begins, Ten Hag s United will tackle Atletico at Oslo s Ullevaal Stadium.

The July 30 fixture sees United take on the team that knocked them out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage this season.

Ralf Rangnick oversaw a 1-1 draw in Madrid followed by a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford, but the interim boss has stepped aside after former Ajax head coach Ten Hag was named manager on a three-year contract.

United football director John Murtough, who alongside Ten Hag is set to lead an overhaul of the club s playing staff during the close season, said the Atl…

Liverpool are interested in signing Youri Tielemans from Leicester City in the summer transfer window, according to . However, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has said that talks are going on over handing the 24-year-old midfielder a new deal.

Tielemans has been at Leicester since 2019 when he joined on a permanent contract from AS Monaco after a loan spell at the King Power Stadium. The 24-year-old Belgium international has been superb for the Foxes over the years and has established himself as an important player in manager Rodgers’s team.

The 24-year-old has scored in 90 appearances in the Premier League for Leicester so far in his career. Tielemans is an important player for the Foxes, and it is hard to see the former Premier League champions sell the Belgium s…

Liverpool aren’t likely to be interested in re-signing Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona, according to The Athletic journalists James Pearce and Simon Hughes.

The Brazilian succeeded in forcing a move out of the club in January 2018 for a reported fee of €160 million (including add-ons), but his work on it started half a year earlier, when he handed in a transfer request on the eve of the 2017/18 Premier League season.

Speaking on their , Pearce and Hughes recounted the full story of Coutinho’s departure from the club, which they believe resulted in manager Jurgen Klopp losing faith in the player completely.

Coutinho’s future is now once again the subject of much guesswork, and recent reports claim the La Liga champions would be willing to part with him f…

Luciano Spalletti is aiming to get Italy back to their best against Croatia at Euro 2024 on Monday after admitting to not getting things right during their defeat to Spain.

Spain secured top spot in Group B after their 1-0 victory over Italy on Thursday, with Riccardo Calafiori s own goal handing La Roja the win in the 55th minute.

Despite the narrow scoreline, Italy struggled to test their counterparts in the final third, managing just four shots in the match, with Unai Simon only having to make one save.

Spalletti had named the same starting line-up from their comeback win over Albania but used all five of his changes by the 64th minute.

The head coach admitted even that was not soon enough for his team, but is confident Italy will bounce back on Monday…

Lionel Messi was overcome with emotion as he fulfilled a dream by eclipsing Brazil great Pele as the all-time leading scorer for a South American nation.

Messi scored a hat-trick as Argentina cruised to a 3-0 victory over Bolivia in Thursday s CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier and those goals took him past Pele.

His first, a curling effort after a cheeky nutmeg, saw him go level with Pele on 77, before a close-range finish just past the hour saw him set a new record.

He then added another for good measure at the end to complete his hat-trick and reach 79 goals for Argentina on a momentous night at the Monumental.

With La Albiceleste also finally able to celebrate July s Copa America triumph – a first in 28 years – in front of their own supporters at full-…

Burnley could be set to sell Tom Heaton within the next six months, according to the Mail Online.

The Clarets signed Joe Hart from Manchester City earlier this week following a goalkeeping injury crisis, with both Heaton and Nick Pope on the sidelines.

That means that Sean Dyche has three England international goalkeepers on his books, with one looking likely to make way before too long.

Former Manchester United youth player Heaton looks the most likely to be sold having lost his place to Pope last term after picking up a shoulder injury last September.

Heaton moved to Turf Moor in the summer of 2013 and has since racked up one hundred and seventy-eight appearances for the club and was part of the squad that achieved promotion to the top flight in bo…

Robert Lewandowski is hopeful of landing a first Ballon d Or, citing his remarkable achievements over the past two years.

Lewandowski was in incredible form as Bayern Munich won a treble in 2019-20, but the award was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the 33-year-old has maintained his incredible standards and was named on the 30-man shortlist for this year s prize.

Last season, the centre-forward broke Gerd Muller s long-standing record of Bundesliga goals in a single season, netting 41 times in the league and scoring seven more across all other club competitions, the most of any player in Europe s top five leagues. 

Lewandowski has not surrendered that position this season, with his 13 strikes in all competitions lifting him above second and …