Substitute Marcus Rashford scored a superb quickfire hat-trick for Manchester United as they overwhelmed Germany’s RB Leipzig 5-0 at Old Trafford in Champions League Group H on Wednesday.

The striker, in the headlines recently due to his campaigning over free school lunches, showed he has not been distracted from his day job as he came off the bench with 27 minutes left and led United to an impressive victory.

Rashford is only the second United player to score a hat-trick as a substitute after his manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did so against Nottingham Forest in 1999.

“I think the manager wanted me to up the tempo. That for us means going forward. There were definitely spaces there. We looked dangerous throughout and that we could score every time we went forward,” Rashford said.

“It was a real team performance. The ones who started did well and the substitutes did well too.”

Having won at Paris St Germain in their opening game, United are now in a commanding position in the group and are beginning to look like a squad with real strength in depth.

Messi on target

Ousmane Dembele struck early and Lionel Messi converted a late penalty as Barcelona won 2-0 at Juventus after Alvaro Morata had three goals disallowed for offside for the Serie A side.

Dembele struck with a deflected shot in the 14th minute and Messi capped a fluid display from Ronald Koeman’s side by firing home the 14th penalty of his Champions League career.

Morata broke clear and had the ball in the net in the 16th minute but was offside and suffered the same fate when he volleyed home from Juan Cuadrado’s cross.