An old tweet from Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice in response to Manchester United forward Anthony Martial has re-emerged.
Rice had just broken through at West Ham at the time of the post, and would go on to make 26 Premier League appearances - mostly at centre-back - during the 2017/18 campaign.
Before then, the future England international sat down and watched United's pre-season tour, where Jose Mourinho's side took on Real Madrid during the International Champions Cup.
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The match took place in California and ended 1-1, with a penalty from then Real midfielder Casemiro cancelling out Jesse Lingard's opener in first half stoppage time.
United went on to win on penalties, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Daley Blind both converting from the spot.
One of the players that missed his spot kick was Martial, but the Frenchman provided one of the moments of pre-season in the build-up to United's first goal which appeared to wow Rice.
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Minutes after the goal was scored on July 23, 2017, Rice simply tweeted: "Martial omg," alongside a series of emojis.
The goal in question arrived after a superb piece of play from Martial and United.
Goalkeeper David de Gea launched the ball upfield towards Marouane Fellaini, who chested the ball down with precision before showing great tenacity to keep hold of the ball and pass to Martial.
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The Frenchman then directly faced his full-back before darting past him, and produced an incredible dribble to ease his way beyond the attempted challenges of two Real players.
All that was left for Martial was to square for Lingard, who tapped home to put the finishing touches on an excellent team move.
Over six years on, the Frenchman is still at Old Trafford but faces an uncertain future under Erik ten Hag.
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He has had his fair share of bad luck and injuries, and has struggled to find the form that convinced United to pay an initial fee of around £36 million for him as a teenager since his 17-goal haul in the 2019/20 season.
Martial will hope to find that goalscoring form in the upcoming weeks to convince United to keep hold of him beyond the January window.
Topics: Declan Rice, Arsenal, Anthony Martial, Manchester United, Premier League
