Marcus Rashford Reveals Long-Time Adoration for Former Barcelona Star Ahead of Brazil Clash

Marcus Rashford has admitted that he has idolised Brazil and Real Madrid legend Ronaldo since he was young, after the former Inter forward admitted last summer that he sees a little of himself in the United starlet. 

“He has courage and he’s fast and is very good with the ball," Ronaldo said, shortly after Rashford broke into United's first team with a bang. "Strikers have to be hungry to score and I see that with him. He has an amazing future.”

Quoted by the Mirror ahead of England's friendly against Brazil on Tuesday, Rashford was asked to revisit those quotes - revealing: “I used to watch a lot of him growing up. All of his games. He was obviously a top player who won a lot of things in his career, so when you know he’s saying good things about you then it really stands out.”

“[I’ve watched] all those clips on YouTube. My first ever game that I saw live, he was playing in it. It was at Old Trafford and I always remember it. It was in 2003. He scored a hat-trick. I was only young though. I was five. He was my brother Dwaine’s favourite player, that’s why I’ve grown up watching so much of him and his games.

“I think you [model yourself on players like that] naturally. When you’re young you watch clips of the best players in the world and try to emulate them, so it just tends to happen naturally.”

He also took time to praise Ronaldo's former Brazil teammate Ronaldinho, saying: “He was also a top, top player. Those sort of players are rare, but Brazil had two of them. 

"I bumped into Ronaldinho in the summer. He was in a Nike complex where we were doing some training and he had some commercial stuff to do. He’s a really nice guy and obviously had a fantastic career.”