Marcus Rashford ruins Aston Villa star with filthy skill in Man Utd friendly defeat

Marcus Rashford conjured up a ridiculous piece of skill to leave Aston Villa defender Matty Cash bamboozled on Saturday.

Rashford started for Manchester United in a 1-0 defeat to Dean Smith’s Villa, with Ollie Watkins scoring the winner with a diving header.

It was a frustrating afternoon for United in front of goal but Rashford came up with some magic in front of the empty Holte End at Villa Park.

He stood Cash, who signed for Villa this summer from Nottingham Forest, up and flip-flopped the ball to leave him stuck in the mud.

At the other end, Watkins scored a brilliant diving header.

Jack Grealish spread the play to Mohamed Trezeguet who rifled in a cross for the club-record signing to head home beyond Dean Henderson in the United goal.

‘In the first half, I thought we played some good stuff and created chances,’ said Solskjaer after the defeat.

‘The most important thing is valuable minutes because this pre-season is such a strange and different one for us

‘We need to be more clinical, we need to score those goals because then you go home happy. Then again, the result wasn’t the main thing.

‘I thought Deano [Henderson] showed his authority back there and he played like a proper Manchester United goalkeeper.

‘Donny [Van de Beek] was maybe the biggest plus in the outfield. He’s such a finder of space and he creates time for himself with his timing and movement. I was very happy with his performance.

‘And especially in the second half, you saw Teden [Mengi] when he came on, how exciting a prospect he is.’

United were without key duo Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, but Solskjaer is expected to have them back at his disposal for their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

‘We expect more of them to be match fit,’ added Solskjaer.

‘The international players who didn’t travel today have had the minutes they needed [in the Nations League], some of them, and we’ll get a few more back.’