Having hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the 1-1 draw with Swansea at the weekend, Rashford was again catapulted into the spotlight in the semi-final.
He went down very easily to win United's penalty in that Swansea match and rightly received a lot of criticism for his perceived conning of referee Neil Swarbrick.
'Diving' has become an epidemic in the English game and for a player of Rashford's talent, promise and skill to become its latest exponent was disappointing and unwanted.
You would hope that a quiet word in his ear from either Jose or the club's senior players will completely eradicate any thoughts of Rashford ever going down like that again.
For an exciting young talent with the world at his feet and with the ability he possesses, there was no need for Rashford to resort to such dirty tricks.
This time against Celta, though, Rashford was back to doing what he does best: terrorising opposition defences and producing decisive match winning moments of quality and class.
The young striker settled the quarter-final against Andecrlecht with a dramatic extra-time winner and stepped up again here to leave the Reds with one foot in the Stockholm showpiece.
Rashford showed that he can be United's (and England's) talisman-in-waiting with a brilliant individual performance on the night and capped his performance with a wonderful winner.
He's not the first player you think of when it comes to dead-ball expertise, with Juan Mata, Daley Blind and expensive summer signings Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all more natural set piece exponents.
Rashford nonchalantly shrugged off the attentions of his more senior team-mates and dispatched the 67th-minte free-kick in superb style.
He added another string to his ever-lengthening bow and, after a slow start to the season, continued his upward and in-form trajectory.
Any team would miss the goals, charisma and presence that a striker of Zlatan's calibre brings, but in his absence Rashford has improved our pace and penetration in attack.
It's no co-incidence that his best goalscoring run of the season has come in Ibra's absence with Rashford as the main man down the middle.
He was replaced by Anthony Martial with ten minutes to go and looks set to sit out Sunday's match at Arsenal, but will be rested and restored for the second leg against the Spaniards next week.
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