Louis van Gaal was on the brink of laughter as he assessed the promotion of Marcus Rashford to first team duty back in February 2016, intoning that the alternative to providing cover for first-choice striker Anthony Martial was simply having no cover at all.
As the Dutchman prepared his United side for the second leg of the Europa League meeting with FC Midtjylland, his options were diminishing all the time. There was no alternative to victory against the Danes, having won just six of the previous 19 games, including a 2-1 reverse in the first leg, while in his selection process he had only Rashford and Martial available to spearhead his attack.