Rashford's omission from Man United's Champions League squad explained. Manchester United caused a little stir on social media after the confirmed list of players eligible to play in the UEFA Champions League this season did not include that of Marcus Rashford.
The 20-year-old English striker who had his breakthrough season under Louis Van Gaal in 2015 has had a dip in form. This has, as a result, forced his demotion to the bench of the Old Trafford club in recent weeks.
At the moment, not much is going in the way of the young Mancunian who enjoyed just 10 minutes of play against Burnley last weekend having came on for Alexis Sanchez in the second-half. A head-butt incident with Phil Bardsley results in the forward's sending off.
Nevertheless, none of the aforementioned factors is the cause of Marcus Rashford's omission from Manchester United's UEFA Champions League 'A-list' squad. The reason is simply that the Red Devils' No. 10 qualifies as a homegrown player and was born after January 1, 1997.
Per UEFA's regulation on the subject states that: 'A player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, 1 January 1997 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for an uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday. Players aged 16 may be registered if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years.
'Clubs are entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season, but the list must be submitted by no later than 24:00CET the day before a match.'
Marcus Rashford was, however, included in Manchester United's U-21 squad and is still eligible to play for the senior side in the Champions League. The following are the players listed in the 'A-list':
Goalkeepers: David De Gea, Lee Grant, Sergio Romero
Defenders: Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw, Antonio Valencia, Matteo Darmian, Ashley Young
Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Andreas Pereira, Fred, Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini, Nemanja Matic, Scott McTominay
Forwards: Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial
