I Can Hit Ronaldo’s Kind Of Free-Kicks – Rashford

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford wants to be like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but says building a unique identity is key for success — both for himself and England.

Rashford is already an important figure for club and country, but he admits he is still learning after a rapid rise since his United debut 19 months ago.

“Ronaldo in the Super Cup — he was only on for 20 minutes or so but if you look at his movement and how he’s changed to what he is now, it’s amazing how he still continues like he does,” Rashford said, when asked to name the best player he had played with or against.

“Ronaldo, Messi, Rooney, Neymar — everyone knows good football when they see it and that’s what I like to watch as well. You try to take things from them, especially when you’re young, until you find your own identity. You try to emulate those players a lot and they’re the things that make you into the player you are. It’s hard to name a specific aspect but you can take things like mentality.

Rashford added: “Brazilian Ronaldo has had the biggest World Cup performances, I’d say. And his were among the most enjoyable to watch. There were a lot of top players who performed in the World Cup and went to another level.”

He scored a brilliant free kick winner against Celta Vigo in the Europa League last season but asked if he was copying Ronaldo’s “knuckleball” style, he said: “No, it’s actually a different technique. I can do it like he does it but I haven’t done that [in a match] yet.”

“It’s difficult in the national team. We’re only together 10 days at a time. There’s not much time to find that identify but we’re doing our best to do it, and go to Russia with a plan to win the tournament. We’re realistic with how we’re playing against the teams in the qualifiers and we have to build a plan when we get to the tournament,” he said.

“Around the hotel, everyone feels comfortable and relaxed to be themselves. That’s something that I would say is different to last time. Everyone is being themselves and we’re starting to understand each other more.

“At internationals, you don’t get much time together to understand each other’s personalities and what they like do outside. The more we understand each other, the better the results will be on the pitch.

“That was from the manager himself, that was one of the things he wanted to install. As players we’ve bought into it, and hopefully we can get the results. He is always good with the young players coming through. Obviously he’s worked with the Under-21s before — he knows how to deal with young players.”

But he conceded: “When you’re there, it’s all about winning. In tournament football, it doesn’t matter how you win or how it looks to the people. Obviously if you win well, it’s better but if we went there and didn’t play our best football but came back with the trophy, we’d take it.”