Midtjylland magic just the tonic for Memphis – Van Gaal

The Manchester-born youngster’s fearless performance pushed United into the last 16 of the Europa League with a 5-1 win and eased the pressure on its embattled Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.

United¿s Marcus Rashford celebrates after scoring during the Europa League round of 32 second leg soccer match between Manchester United and FC Midtjylland in Manchester, England, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

Rashford, an 18-year-old local academy graduate, only found out he was starting a few minutes before kickoff after Anthony Martial joined United’s long injury list when he hurt his right hamstring in the warmup.

Jubilant with the teenager’s performance, Van Gaal said it was fantastic to see his first two goals in the debut match, the Mirror reported.

The 22-year-old admits that Depay dominated him at Old Trafford, and concedes that he would quickly like to forget the game, as it was one of the worst nights of his football career.

The tie finished with a 6-3 aggregate in favor of Manchester United, sending them into the next round where they’ll face Premier League foe Liverpool.

“I shall never use youth for myself, only to improve the team”, Van Gaal said. It was very heavy for the other players, my substitution was not so good I think [laughs]. “We can take confidence into the game from our last win but we have to play against one of the best teams in the Premier League, and we have to do it after playing on a Thursday evening”.

If a debut in these circumstances did not bother him, however, then Sunday could be like water off a duck’s back to the player. If Varela continues to perform at such a high level then Darmian and Valencia will struggle to get back in to the team. “We have to play Arsenal within two days which is, more or less, not easy to do as your players have to recover”. “Maybe it will be a turning point for him”. So I think we have done fantastically.

The reporter argued that City had fielded a second-string team in the loss against Chelsea, but Van Gaal said that is exactly what he has had to do at United such is the extent of the injuries at the club.

However, Van Gaal remains the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next top-flight manager to leave their post and Mourinho is as short as 1/6 to succeed him in the Old Trafford hot-seat.

“I am very happy for Memphis”, he said.