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Marcus Rashford came from Wembley and now he is back. His Renaissance included some excursions for England, while Thomas Tuchel ended his international exile, and now he has driven Aston Villa to the national stadium. A FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace winks for a club that has not won the competition since 1957. Rashford’s time at Villa Park may only take a few months, and no decision has been made to activate the £ 40m clause to sign him permanently, but it has the potential to prove historically.
For him, it can bring the rare double, and join Olivier Giroud and Brian Talbot among those to win the FA Cup in successive seasons with different clubs. For the time being, he scored in a quarterfinals in successive campaigns. For Unai Emery, whose competence in knockout competitions has been demonstrated at European stages, it could make him the first trophy award-winning manager since Brian Little in 1996. Objective ensured that this remained the case.
But Rashford’s own drought began to feel long. Even when a revival brought him roles in villa goals, he did not record one. Even with an English reminder, there was no strike to end the journey from his purgatory in Manchester United. He was largely anonymous in the attack in the first half on Deepdale – which led the line while Ollie Watkins started on the bench – but in second place completely deadly. He tends to work for Villa as a wing, but Emery has enabled him to score more. He explained: ‘He plays in the idea, in the plan we did with him. We decided to play in the Standing 11 as a striker to try to get his quality, his power, from him. “
And goals can be a symbol of it. Emery added: “He took a step forward, felt comfortable, confident, achieved goals. There is still work to do, still weeks to get it.” Rashford agrees: He is not at his best, but is at least in the right direction. The man Ruben Amorim Jettison is rejuvenated. “I feel like I got fitter and played better football since I was here,” he said. “It’s always nice for a forward to get a goal, so hopefully it’s going on.”
After nine Villa performances without score, to a drought that stretches 14 games for clubs and country, which lasts almost four months, Rashford had two goals in five minutes.
There was a false start to it, a preliminary touch that enabled Preston’s reserve goalkeeper Dai Cornell to collect a sign of a lack of conviction. Two certain finishes suggested otherwise. Rashford led in a shot of Lucas Digne’s low cut-a classic emery goal, with the overlapping walk in the inner-Links channel and the finish between the width of the posts and a penalty passed past Cornell after Andrew Hughes stepped on Morgan Rogers’ foot.
It was a kind of reward for Rogers, denied by Jayden Meghoma’s goal line clearing seconds earlier and the brightest of Villa’s attackers.
Villa soon had a third. Ramsey powered to put a shot in the bottom corner. The enterprising dignity provided the pace and was then denied a hat -trick of Assurance when Watkins, with his first touch, was the Frenchman’s free kick narrow wide. Watkins was in his como in general, but it barely mattered. Villa was predominant after the break, and it felt known.
They were the second half specialists in the FA Cup Run of this season, eight of their nine goals that came to the interval. Moribund before the break, it seemed as if Emery’s intervention was transformed with the interval. There was also a repetition of their previous match against Club Bruges: 0-0 to 45 minutes, 3-0 to 90. They have a devastating dynamics. Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom took away the game of five minutes from us. “Bang, scared and the game is gone.”
It was a long time for Preston, whose previous quarterfinals came almost six decades ago. But it is a match with its roots in the 19th century. Preston knocked out the Villa containers in 1888, a few months before the football league began. They had their eye on a 21st century successor, who frustrated Villa in the first half, who got the center of the field with a flowing 3-5-2 formation and the best chance, when Stefan Thordarson was on the road from a few meters.
They had further reasons to achieve this. The draw specialists were unbeaten in 15 games at home in front of a little R&R-Rashford and Ramsey-their resistance to the first half was irrelevant. It has become Villa’s biggest FA Cup victory since 1999. They can hope for something more seismic in the semi -final. “This competition means a lot to fans and playing in Wembley will be fantastic,” says Emery. This is Villa’s first visit there for five years, Rashford’s for a few weeks.
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