Marcus Rashford 'can't stop smiling' after scoring first Man United hat-trick on day petition surpasses one million signatures

Marcus Rashford admitted he could not stop smiling after claiming his first Manchester United hat-trick on the day his petition to end child food poverty surpassed one million signatures.

The England striker came on as a second-half substitute to score three goals in the space of 16 devastating minutes as United crushed RB Leipzig 5-0 and used the moment to apply fresh pressure on the Government to stop vulnerable children from going hungry.

“3 goals, 16 minutes, 1,030,000 signatures,” Rashford tweeted. “Can’t stop smiling, I’ve waited a long time for that. Just wish the fans were in to experience it with me #ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY”.

Rashford’s hat-trick took his tally to eight for club and country this season and followed his winning goal in last week’s 2-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital.

“I think the manager told me when I came on to up the tempo and there were definitely spaces there,” Rashford said. “We managed to find the gaps. We got Bruno [Fernandes] on the ball and Paul [Pogba] on the ball, Antho [Anthony Martial] running forward. We looked like we could score every time we went forward.

“It was a real team performance and those who started the game did well and those who came on did well. We can’t ask for much more than that in terms of attitude and intensity and intent to go and kill a game off.”

Paul Scholes, the former United midfielder, suggested Rashford should be targeting at least 25 goals this season but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer urged the forward not to look too far ahead.

“Now is not the time to think about how many goals you’re going to end up with, just concentrate on the next job in hand,” Solskjaer said. “There's one step at a time, if you get too far ahead of yourself you'’e going to lose focus, Marcus has showed he can keep focusing on what’s important on and off the pitch at the moment.

“As a sub, coming on, sometimes that’s the best time to come on when your team is winning, there are spaces everywhere and Marcus took his chances incredibly well.”

Solskjaer believes United have set the standard he expects in terms of work rate and application in their wins against PSG and Leipzig and that his side are becoming more consistent.

“We always work on our consistency, of course,” he said. “We have lost one in eight at the moment, I think that’s quite consistent. I think every player knows that what we have done here today is hard work and graft, that’s the key.

“The boys are working, we’ve not been fit before the international break, that’s just an obvious fact, but now we're covering the pitch, we’re running and we’ve got players who are fitter, stronger and sharper. For me, that consistency has been there since February, it has been getting better and better.

“Yeah the first league game [against Crystal Palace] was very disappointing, the circumstances of the [6-1] Tottenham defeat but we’re getting better. Today was a performance with great attitude, hard work for each other, the squad rotated so we're in a good state at the moment but we’ve got Arsenal on Sunday. We are playing against good teams you know, we were slaughtered after Chelsea but I thought our performance was solid and good then as well.”

Meanwhile, United defender Alex Telles has tested positive for coronavirus.

The Brazil left back, who joined United from Porto in a £15.4m deal on deadline day, missed Wednesday night’s victory over RB Leipzig and Saturday’s game against Chelsea because he is currently self-isolating after contracting the virus.

Solskjaer said Telles had shown no symptoms and will welcome the player back once he is out of quarantine.

“Telles has tested positive for coronavirus,” Solskjaer said. “He's been out for a few days, no symptoms though so he'll be fine, back soon.”

Telles posted a message on Instagram that read: “Guys, I want to thank you for the messages of affection that I received from the moment that United announced that I have been diagnosed with Covid-19. I want to say that I am fine, isolated and soon I will be back with all my strength to help my team-mates. Once again, thank you all for your lovely messages.”