It is easy to fall into the trap of impulsively comparing talented young stars to the iconic superstars in football. Comparisons are much easier when both footballers have played for the same team. This is the case of the comparison between Juventus talisman Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United talisman Marcus Rashford, with the latter predicted to be the superstar the Old Trafford has long been yearning for.
It is a comparison that can be fair and unfair; Ronaldo had seven goals by this stage in his first world-class season. Rashford has 13 #mufc https://t.co/6kOL3kh9yB — Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) December 9, 2019
Perhaps, it is not at all foolish to compare Marcus Rashford with Cristiano Ronaldo. According to United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who first initiated the idea, it is very easy to compare both players. The Norwegian coach claims that both can be compared using metrics like skills, body, shape attitude, and attributes, among others.
Ole Gunner Solskjaer has been talking up @MarcusRashford in comparison with @Cristiano Marcus Rashford #PL record after 127 matches: ️ 37 ️ 18 8,110 minutes Cristiano Ronaldo #PL record after 127 matches: ️ 34 ️ 31 8,927 minutes pic.twitter.com/EulvhxNWDF — SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) December 10, 2019
Surprisingly, the statistics of Marcus Rashford after 127 Premier League matches compared to Cristiano Ronaldo makes a very interesting reading. Sir Alex Fergusson gave the young Ronaldo the opportunity to go straight to the heart of his popular side. Out of 127 league appearances at Manchester United, 96 of which were starts.
Marcus Rashford, on the other hand, has only made 86 starts probably because of the successive change of manager at old Trafford. In other words, he was favored by some coaches more than others. It is also seen in the number of minutes played. Ronaldo has a combined 8,924 minutes while Rashford has 8,110.
The 814 minutes difference is equivalent to approximately nine matches. Most interestingly, in 127 matches, Marcus Rashford has scored more goals on three more occasions than the Portuguese talisman, scoring 37 goals against the Juventus talisman's 34. If you include that to the number of minutes played, it means Ronaldo scored a goal in every 262 minutes while Rashford scored a goal in every 219 minutes.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo almost doubled the number of shots on goal compared to Rashford's. Ronaldo made 471 attempts against 256 of the young English footballer. In other words, the conversion rate of Marcus Rashford is twice that of Ronaldo at 14.5 to 7.2.
Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Marcus Rashford: The first 127 games. pic.twitter.com/elEcww9eYF — Football Tweet (@Football__Tweet) December 11, 2019
After 127 matches in Premier League, it appears that Marcus Rashford is well on his way to make his own history.
