Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund won the Man of the Match award after scoring a stunning goal in Denmark’s nervy 2-1 win over San Marino on Tuesday night.
It was the finish of the most natural-born goalscorer. Most players would have attempted to drill the ball across the penalty area or pick out a team-mate, such was the tightness of the angle.
But not Rasmus Hojlund. All he needed was a glimpse of the goal before lamping the ball into the back of the San Marino net, a glimpse of the explosive ruthlessness which has Manchester United fans hopeful that the Dane can become their go-to number ten for the next decade.
Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund scores again
Hojlund, before the game, was keen to play down comparisons between him and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. Goals as emphatic and as eye-catching as this, however, will only do the opposite.
“It is a natural comparison. He (Hojlund) is a young, Scandinavian player with incredible physique and power,” smiles Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand, speaking to TV2.
“I fully understand the comparison.”
Hojlund, who moved to Old Trafford in a £64 million deal from Atalanta over the summer, now has seven goals in just ten international caps. And in a sluggish, uninspiring Denmark performance – Hjulmand’s side forced to hang on nervously against the whipping boys of international football – Hojlund was an obvious recipient of the Man of the Match award, the carefree grin on the striker’s face perhaps easing concerns over a potential recurrence of that early-season back injury.
‘Incredible’
“I feel they targeted me, as you can see at the end,” Hojlund grumbled, convinced that he had been singled out for some rather nasty attention by the San Marino players.
“I understand Italian, and I could hear them saying that they had the idea to crush me.”
The hosts have since refuted Hojlund’s claims, per the Daily Mail.
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