Erik ten Hag has discovered Manchester United's most important partnership in years

When in discussion about Manchester United these days it is usually not long before the conversation turns to Marcus Rashford and his dazzling run of form.

His deflected effort in Sunday's 2-0 Carabao Cup final victory over Newcastle United saw him net his 25th goal of the season and his 17th goal in just 19 matches since returning from the World Cup in Qatar in December. His form has been nothing short of sensational, so much so that he is expected to score every time he crosses the white line.

But even though Rashford's brilliance has been the headline act in United's sensational post-World Cup form, countless other individuals have played their parts in helping the club end its six-year wait for a trophy and tighten its grip on a top-four berth. In fact, you could argue that, perhaps with the exception of Casemiro - who also found the net at Wembley on Sunday, no individuals have been as influential as Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane.

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The centre-backs have been at the very heart of United's resurrection under Erik ten Hag this season, forming a strong and dependable spine with David de Gea behind them and Casemiro in front of them. An unlikely centre-back partnership that has blossomed so well since Martinez's big-money arrival from Ajax last summer, the duo, guided by Ten Hag's brilliance, have quickly developed a relationship so strong that you would go as far as describing it as one of the best central-defensive partnerships in world football at this moment in time.

Varane, who has maintained his fitness a lot better than he did in his maiden season at Old Trafford, oozes class and makes it easy to understand why he was considered as