Marcus Rashford advised to keep feet on the ground at Manchester United

Juan Mata tells 18-year-old striker to stay calm
• ‘It’s been massive for him,’ says United playmaker

Juan Mata has advised Marcus Rashford to keep his feet on the ground after the Manchester United striker did the double double in the course of four days, scoring twice on his Europa League debut in the win against Midtjylland on Thursday and then repeating that feat on his Premier League debut against Arsenal on Sunday.

Mata has had a front‑row view of events as he pulled the strings behind Rashford and the Spanish playmaker has been talking the 18-year-old tyro through his games to telling effect. Prodigies have a habit of coming and going at Old Trafford but Mata is confident Rashford can plot a steady course through his career, less the George Best route and more the Ryan Giggs.

“He needs to keep calm,” Mata said. “Everyone is going to call him, text him, speak about him and write about him, but he needs to keep calm because I think he has a bright future coming up ahead of him – he needs to keep playing his football.”

Rashford, a product of Fletcher Moss Rangers from Didsbury that also spawned Wes Brown, Danny Welbeck, Ravel Morrison, Tyler Blackett and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, got his unexpected break when Anthony Martial injured himself in the warmup before the Midtjylland tie but has played so confidently the European Cup winner Pat Crerand has suggested he be paired with the £36m 20-year-old once he is up and running once more.

“He looks similar to Anthony Martial in a way, they’re both quick and go against the defenders, they both have goals in their pocket. It’s not about comparing, it’s about taking profit from them,” Mata said.

What that means for the gradually slowing and sidelined Wayne Rooney is open for debate but, with Rashford one of 14 academy players handed their debuts by Louis van Gaal, including three in the 3-2 win against Arsenal, United suddenly look a more fluid and threatening proposition with the youngsters in and the captain out.

Along with Rashford, Timothy Fosu-Mensah was given his chance against Arsenalwhen Marcos Rojo succumbed to yet another injury and James Weir managed five minutes of injury time after replacing Ander Herrera. Meanwhile Guillermo Varela, 22, was keeping Alexis Sánchez quiet at right-back in tandem with the 23-year-old Jesse Lingard who appears a battle-hardened veteran in comparison.

“I feel so proud – I can’t tell you how proud I am of them,” Mata said. “It’s not easy for a young lad to come here and play well, but the quality they’re showing is great. Everyone is talking about Marcus and we’re all very happy for him but the others who came in to play in defence, and the young lad who came into the midfield in the last minute, were great.”

Michael Carrick concurred. “You know the great thing with young lads is you don’t really know what you’ve got until you put them in there and give them a chance. Over recent weeks, that’s probably been the massive bonus for us – probably over the whole season, really – the young lads coming in. And they’ve all looked comfortable, they’ve all settled in really well, and I think everyone else responds to that.

“There’s a togetherness in the squad and the older boys all want to try to look after them and try to help them, and it brings everyone together, and I think the fans respond to that and I think there was a real spirit generated throughout the whole ground, which helped us a lot.”

Mata is enjoying his own renaissance, playing in his favoured No10 position where he is able to make his mark on events and provide a guiding light for Rashford. “As I was playing behind him, I just told him I would try to play passes in behind the defence; he’s very quick so we just tried to connect between each other,” he said. “He knows where the goal is and that’s very important for a killer like him.”

The early signs are Rashford is unlikely to let his sudden success go to his head. “He’s really down to earth,” Carrick said. “He’s quite quiet at the moment. He might come out of his shell after this. I was talking to him in the changing room and he was talking about the atmosphere, what it means to him and seeing the fans respond, and all that type of thing. It’s a breath of fresh air, you know, and something that you take for granted sometimes in many ways, so to see what it means to the young lads and how they responded is incredible, really.”

Mata said: “It’s been massive for him. He played because of Anthony Martial’s injury and obviously he wasn’t affected by the venue or the crowd or by the pressure you have in these massive games because last Thursday and again against Arsenal, we were under a lot of pressure. We’re very happy for him. They are days that he will never forget. For him, his family and his friends, it’s unbelievable and we’re proud of that.”

Manchester United schoolboy Marcus Rashford is different class after returning to studies

Brace against Premier League rivals Arsenal followed by A-level studies

TEENAGE goal machine Marcus Rashford was back down to earth on Monday as he returned to school hours after scoring twice in front of 75,000 fans at Old Trafford.

But the 18-year-old starlet couldn’t resist keeping the Red Devils close to his chest as he arrived for classes proudly wearing his blue Manchester United training coat.

Rashford - who became United’s youngest ever scorer in European football when he bagged two goals against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League last Thursday - turned up for lessons in a modest grey Audi A3.

The star striker looked a little shy as he returned to class on Monday

Then he spent the morning in classes with his pals at the 1,476-pupil Ashton-on-Mersey School, Sale, Gtr Manchester.

Asked by The Sun about his astonishing four days as a first-teamer, the youngster beamed: “I’m over the moon.”

The teenager, who has taken the Premier League by storm after his debut against Arsenal, declined to comment about his studies.

But The Sun understands he already has nine GCSE grades A-C under his belt - and is believed to be taking A-levels this summer.

Last night a source said: “Marcus is a very level-headed guy and he knows his education is really important.

The youngster is head and shoulders above his school football team Getty Images

“He could have scored 10 goals against Arsenal and it still wouldn’t have stopped him coming back into school and working hard.

“This time last week he hadn’t even played for the first team - seven days later, he’s got four goals to his name. No one Old Trafford is known as the Theatre of Dreams.

“Marcus only got in the team last Thursday because of a last minute injury to Anthony Martial - none of this was on his radar.

“But no matter how cool you are, it’s got to be a strange feeling to go from man of the match against Arsenal - to back to school on a Monday morning.”

Rushford swapped Theatre of Dreams for sixth form Tony Spencer

Rashford is in good company at his school because it’s sponsored by United and counts Darren Fletcher, Danny Welbeck and Jonny Evans among its past pupils.

Rashford is not the first youngster to make an instant impact at Old Trafford and follows in the footsteps of striker Welbeck, who fired in a screamer on his first Premier League appearance for United in 2008.

Few United fans will forget the debut of Italian teenager Federico Macheda who swivelled to score a stunning injury-time winner against Aston Villa back in 2009.