Manchester United beat Benfica 1-0 in what was a surprisingly straightforward away game in the Champions League on Wednesday. While only one goal - scored by Marcus Rashford thanks to an error from the inexperienced Mile Svilar - separated the teams, United were in control throughout the 90 minutes.
Rashford is a player in great form, and his stock continues to rise in the fairytale career he has enjoyed so far. Growing up as a United fan who dreamt of playing for the club ever since he first joined as a seven-year-old, Rashford has gone from strength to strength. He has scored on his debut in every competition, which goes some way to demonstrating that no occasion manages to get the better of him.
His goal on Wednesday night was the 25th in his United career to date. While rivals Manchester City have little reason to envy anyone of these days - they currently sitting top of the Premier League table after a blistering start to the season - United’s ability to bring youth players into the first team may cause some jealousy across the city.
Scott McTominay and Jesse Lingard also played against Benfica. The former became involved with the academy when he was just five, and the latter when he was seven.
This is nothing unusual for United, who have a remarkable 80-year and 3,880-game record of including academy graduates in the matchday squad. While United have been blessed with riches over the past few decades, academy players have always played their part in United’s success, to varying degrees. Paul Pogba scored in the Europa League final last term, for example, and Lingard scored in both of the previous domestic finals to help United win the FA and EFL Cups.
Having a balance of home-grown players and expensive superstars was the foundation that Sir Alex Ferguson built his success on. Since the Scot's retirement, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho have followed the same blueprint.
This is a balance City have yet to find. Having outspent United for the last three summers, Pep Guardiola is able to play a team full of world-class players but has little time for the youngsters that City’s academy is developing. At the end of last season, the Catalan more or less confirmed he wouldn’t be changing any time soon either.
“The quality is there, but maybe not in the next year,” he said. “Next season most of them will be training with us and we are going to see how they are. They are good guys but after they have to play in Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. I don’t know if they are able to compete with them.”
This will have disappointed City fans, who year after year see their academy players challenge in the FA Youth Cup, only for them to miss out on being given opportunities in the first team.
Having reached the last three finals, the talent is clearly there. Much has been made of City overtaking United in terms of youth development, but there’s hitherto been little evidence of that in the first team.
City first reaped the rewards of Sheikh Mansour’s investment when playing in the 2014/15 FA Youth Cup final. Their goalscorer that day, Kelechi Iheanacho, has since been sold to Leicester. The only other player from that team to play in the Premier League for City is Bersant Celina, who got 10 minutes of playing time in the 2015/16 season. That group are now 21 years old. In contrast, Rashford is still a teenager but boasts an impressive 84 appearances for United.
Nicky Butt, a product of United’s youth system who now head of the academy, has spoken about the importance of not only spotting talented players, but also making them ready for first-team football.
"My job is to get players to the first team and the best example I can give is that, a couple of years ago, we were given an absolute doing by Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup,” Butt told ESPN.
“I was sat in the stand, I wasn't in my current role at the time, but I was still cringing. But fast-forward two years and we have Marcus playing over 50 first-team games last season - more than anyone else in the squad - and playing for England. With all due respect, Chelsea haven't produced one of their players for the first team, and the end-game for me is to get players into the first team."
Rashford is flying high but it could have been a different story for him. As a youngster, he trained with City as well as United, but made the decision to stick with his boyhood team. Had he chosen City you would have to assume we wouldn’t even know his name now.
The story may be different in the future but when it comes to developing youth, United are still ahead of their rivals.
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