Hojlund joins exclusive scoring club after Plzen goals

Hojlund joins exclusive scoring club after Plzen goals

With his equaliser in Plzen, Rasmus Hojlund became the third player to score nine goals for Manchester United at the major stage of a European competition while aged 21 or younger.

The Denmark international was introduced as a substitute early in the second half of Thursday’s 2-1 win over Viktoria Plzen in the UEFA Europa League, before going on to find the net just six minutes after coming on.

Hojlund was in the right place at the right time to tuck away the rebound to Amad’s initial shot, which had been saved by hosts’ goalkeeper Martin Jedlicka after the Ivorian’s impressive dart forward to create a shooting angle.

That was before he produced the eventual match-winning moment to further his continental number, two minutes from the end of normal time, keeping his cool with a low effort having latched on to a clever quick free-kick from skipper Bruno Fernandes.

The goals were the 21-year-old’s fourth and fifth in six Europa League appearances this season, following his strike at Porto and the double he netted in our previous fixture in the competition; the 3-2 win at home to Bodo/Glimt.

Hojlund made a red-hot start to representing United in Europe last season, his first at the club, netting each of his first five goals in the Champions League.

He opened his account away to Bayern Munich and scored a memorable double against Galatasaray at Old Trafford, before adding two more to his tally – five in four games – in Copenhagen. 

Rasmus joined team-mate Marcus Rashford – who he replaced in Plzen – in hitting nine European goals for United while aged 21 or younger, after our no.10 became the second player to achieve the feat when he smashed home the dramatic late penalty in Paris to complete our famous aggregate triumph over Paris Saint-Germain in March 2019.

That was 12 years after Wayne Rooney set the trend, one day shy of his 22nd birthday, with our second goal in a 4-2 win away to Dynamo Kyiv.

Hojlund doesn’t turn 22 until February, by which time we’ll have played two more European games – at home to Rangers and away to FCSB, in Romania.

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