Anthony Martial equals David Beckham as Man Utd striker joins club hall of fame with League Cup semi-final strike

• Martial scored the opener against Forest
• Helped United seal a place in League Cup final
• Matched Beckham's goal record for Man Utd

WHAT HAPPENED? The French forward opened the scoring in Manchester United's 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford with an opportunistic strike in the 73rd minute, with Fred scoring shortly after, which helped the Red Devils secure a 5-0 aggregate win to set up a date with Newcastle United in the final at Wembley on February 26.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Martial was brought on from the bench by Erik ten Hag after the hour-mark as part of a triple substitution, alongside Marcus Rashford and the returning Jadon Sancho. He took just 10 minutes to make an impact with a strike that saw him equal Beckham's goal tally for Manchester United after pouncing on a Rashford shot that took a kind deflection to fall in his way. Martial is now joint 25th in United's all-time top goal-scorers list alongside Beckham, but has reached the milestone 111 games earlier than the legendary former winger.

WHAT THEY SAID? Ten Hag was full of praise for Martial after the final whistle as he told reporters: "You always need different qualities in a squad to be technical in games and between games, see what you need, what the games need, but Anthony Martial can create something with his movements, his dealing with the ball, his smartness and his finishing.

"I don’t know if he has been all the time down, but he’s not always available, we hope he will be available for a couple of games, a couple of weeks and months and if that’s the case he can be much more successful."

IN TWO PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT FOR MARTIAL? The forward will hope to earn a place in Ten Hag's starting XI when United play Crystal Palace on Saturday in the Premier League.