Darmian: United’s Rashford can be one of the best

Matteo Darmian believes his Manchester United teammate Marcus Rashford can become one of the best players in the world, after the teenager’s impressive performance against Chelsea last weekend.

Rashford, 19, scored United’s opening goal in their 2-0 victory over the Premier League leaders after being preferred to Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front by manager Jose Mourinho.

His strike, which was added to by Ander Herrera, came just a week after he had ended a six-month long goal drought in the Premier League at Sunderland.

And the Italian defender heaped praise on the Englishman after their victory lifted United to fifth in the Premier League.

“Marcus is a great player and he’s still very, very young. I think he’s very important for us with his quality,” said Darmian.

“He can be one of the top players, one of the most important players in the world, because he’s very good in every part of the game.

“He has a very good shot, good movement, speed and like a striker sometimes every ball that he touches he scores.

“Sometimes it’s also normal that they have a period where they don’t score. But I hope he can continue like this, to help the team reach the objectives.”

Next up for United is the second leg of their Europa League quarter final against Anderlecht at Old Trafford, with the two sides locked at 1-1 after last week’s opener in Belgium.

“We know that it will be a difficult game,” said Darmian.

“But we are playing at home in front of our fans and we want to advance into the semi-finals of the Europa League.”