Rashford’s January move appears to have revived the England international’s career, but after a number of decent displays, this was arguably his best for Emery’s side.
The way he set up Villa’s third goal against PSG was a brilliant display of skill as he nutmegged one player to get into the box, sidestepped another before cutting the ball back perfectly for Ezri Konsa to fire home.
That assist was his fifth for the club – no Premier League player has managed more – since his Villa debut.
Rashford memorably scored a last-minute penalty for Manchester United against PSG in 2019 to send them out of the Champions League, and he almost came back to haunt them once again as only a stunning Gianluigi Donnarumma stop denied him finding the top corner.
“Marcus Rashford didn’t score, but the energy levels that he had… he was making those defenders make mistakes,” former Villa and Manchester United striker Dion Dublin said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“For me, he was man of the match for Villa.”
Rashford’s impressive display was underlined by the statistics.
He had the most touches inside the opposition box (12) of any player, created the most chances (four) and produced the most crosses on the pitch (nine).
“Rashford was brilliant,” former Villa full-back Stephen Warnock said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“He was involved in everything and everything that was good, was coming from him.”
Former Liverpool striker and two-time Champions League winner Daniel Sturridge admitted Rashford’s performance was the kind that showed critics were wrong to write him off.
“The narrative before he came here was that he’s not the same player any more,” Sturridge told Amazon Prime.
“That was the narrative. He’s proven everyone wrong.
“He has come here and shown everybody this is who I am, and this is how I play. This is what I can bring to the table.”
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