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Marcus Rashford hopes he and Romelu Lukaku can be Manchester United’s new Yorke and Cole.

Rashford and Lukaku have been likened by fans to United’s prolific strike duo of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, who amassed 53 goals during the historic 1999 Treble-winning season.

The new pairing have already netted five times in this campaign since coming together in the summer and the England hitman, who bagged the winner against Slovakia on Monday, feels they are the benchmark.

“It would be great if we could be like them,” said Rashford. “But the most important thing is for us to work for the team together.”

Yorke and Cole had an almost telepathic understanding and Rashford says he and Lukaku immediately hit it off following the Belgian’s £75million arrival from Everton.

“It’s just clicked, we’ve got that understanding,” he said. “We’d never met before his arrival, and we didn’t know what each other was like. But when we got on the pitch together, we just knew where each other was.

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“Hopefully we can keep growing the relationship more and more. Obviously it’s only in the early stages and the better we get at playing together, the better the results will be for the team.”

United boss Jose Mourinho came up against Yorke and Cole when he was at Barcelona and says comparisons between them and Rashford and Lukaku are premature.

Mourinho, who was part of Louis van Gaal’s staff 19 years ago when United and Barcelona played out two epic 3-3 draws in the Champions League, says Yorke and Cole could play blind because they knew each other so well.

They played in a 4-4-2 formation, while Rashford plays just behind Lukaku in Mourinho’s preferred 4-2-3-1 line-up.

(Image: Allsport)

“I played against Cole and Yorke, I was in Barcelona with Mr van Gaal when we played United in the Champions League with Cole and Yorke,” he said.

“Different times. Then they were in a 4-4-2, two strikers, playing blind football. They closed their eyes and they understood each other so well.

“I think now it’s different. We play more width, normally with three attacking players - not double strikers.

“It’s a different perspective. I think they played for Manchester United the best years of their careers. They had great stability, great experience, while Marcus is just in the beginning. Lukaku is a good age, but he has just arrived.

“Go step by step and now it is too far from Cole and Yorke.”

Rashford and Lukaku have played a key part in United’s 100 per cent start and Mourinho knows their fine early form will be tested at Stoke this evening.

(Image: Bongarts/Getty) (Image: Getty Images North America)

United have not won there since the final days of Sir Alex Ferguson in April 2013 and Mourinho admits they have not been good enough.

“Normally it’s not easy for anyone to play against Stoke and probably in the last years, United were not strong enough,” he said.

“In my personal case last season, we didn’t win because we were not good enough, we didn’t play well enough.

“Hopefully we can be better than in previous seasons.

“Let’s see how we cope. My feeling is the squad is strong, the players are strong, united, the atmosphere is very good, very positive.

“We don’t fear any challenge, but we know in the Premier League and Champions League - let’s forget a bit the League Cup - the next two matches are where the quality, are where the difficulties are.”

“If he wasn’t fully established and had done well for one season, moved for big money then ended up on a stage like United, that would be difficult,” said Hughes, who scored 163 goals in two spells at United.

“But given his standing and career path now, in terms of every year being upwards of 20-25 goals, he’s less of a risk.