Andre Onana saved a penalty in Man Utd’s win over Southampton (Image: TNT Sports)
Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana apologised for his English on TNT Sports but still found the words to praise team-mate Marcus Rashford. The Red Devils forward ended his goal drought in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Southampton as his side returned from the international break in fine form.
Rashford’s first goal since March doubled United’s lead at St. Mary’s following Matthijs de Ligt’s headed opener. Alejandro Garnacho added gloss to the scoreline deep into second-half stoppage time, sealing a second win of the season for Erik ten Hag.
Onana, who saved a penalty from Cameron Archer with the game goalless, was drafted in for post-match media duties on TNT Sports and kicked off the interview by excusing his English.
He still managed to form a glowing review of Rashford when asked about his confidence-boosting strike by the panel of Lynsey Hipgrave, Peter Crouch and Joe Cole.
“(Rashford) had a tough season last year,” admitted Onana. “He was not on his best, but today he showed he’s one of the best in the world. But that’s football, that’s life, sometimes you struggle and face difficulties. But it’s not how you fall it’s how many times you stand up.
Marcus Rashford found the bottom corner from long range against Southampton (Image: Getty)
“And today he’s come back again and scored a great goal, an important goal for us. Hopefully he’ll score more for us and I’m really happy for him. He needed a goal and hopefully he’ll score more.”
It wasn’t all good news for United as three of their starting defenders – De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui – all hobbled off. But Ten Hag will be pleased with the clean sheet after losing to Brighton and shipping three at home to Liverpool before the international break.
Onana hopes United can avoid the bad luck which plagued their squad for much of last season. “It’s not always easy when we change the back-four but sometimes we have to be pragmatic,” he continued.
“We can’t control injuries and other things, so we have to deal with the situation. If Casemiro has to play centre-back, I will have to deal with the situation. Sometimes we have games where Bruno (Fernandes) is centre-back and he’s not the best there (laughs), it’s what the team needs at that time and we do our best. Hopefully we will have fewer injuries this season.”
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1948558/man-utd-news-andre-onana-marcus-rashford