Erik ten Hag hails Bruno Fernandes' decision to hand Marcus Rashford penalty duty as 'one of the examples' why he was named Man United captain... as the Portugal star claims: 'I might have missed, we'll never know!'

Erik ten Hag has heralded the 'great leadership' of Bruno Fernandes in his decision to allow Marcus Rashford to step up and score from the spot against Everton on Sunday - and named it was 'one of the examples' why the Portugal international is captain. 

Manchester United travel to Galatasaray on Tuesday in a bid to rescue their turbulent Champions League hopes at the atmospheric RAMS Park, but will do so with greater confidence following their decisive victory at Goodison Park over the weekend. 

Rashford - who finished United's last campaign on a titanic 30 goals across all competitions - broke his eight-game drought by netting just after half-time when given the nod by his captain. 

After the final whistle, Fernandes said that he had done so in a bid to 'boost' his confidence, and both the midfielder and his manager doubled down on their comments ahead of their European clash on Wednesday. 

Fernandes said that the decision to hand the penalty to his team-mate was 'in the moment', adding: 'He is important for us. For strikers it is about getting the first goal. We need our strikers to have the confidence to score them'. 

The Carabao Cup-winner added that he didn't think he was doing something out of the ordinary as he explained Man United's process for who takes the penalties on matchday. 

'We have a list of penalty-takers and we have numbers,' Fernandes explained. 'When I arrived at the club, Marcus was the penalty-taker. (After Rashford was injured and Fernandes became the regular taker) he was always respectful, saying "you're doing well, keep going".'

On Sunday, the two names tipped for penalty action were Rashford and Fernandes. 

'We are never 100 per cent chance, it's a 50 per cent chance,' Fernandes added. 'I  could have taken the penalty and missed, we will never know!'

But whilst Ten Hag was quick to stress that the chance of Fernandes scoring from the spot was much higher, he hailed the decision made by his captain. 

'It's great leadership, if you know your team-mate needs that goal,' Ten Hag added. 

'It is one of the examples (why Fernandes is captain), yes'. 

Ten Hag will hope his captain shows great leadership and a cool head in a bid to climb up the ranks of Group A against the background of an enflamed stadium in Istanbul.  

Ten Hag's side lost the reverse fixture when the Turkish Super Lig side travelled to Old Trafford in October after the visitors took advantage of Casemiro's second-half sending off and Mauro Icardi netted a late winner. 

United have had a torrid European this season, recording defeats to Galatasaray, Bayern Munich, and Copenhagen away, and the side currently sit rock-bottom of their group.