Rashford heaps praise on Holland duo Van Dijk & De Ligt

Marcus Rashford believes England will come up against the two best centre backs in the world when they face Holland on Thursday night.

Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt are expected to line-up against the Three Lions in the Nations League semi-finals after hugely impressive seasons for Liverpool and Ajax respectively.

Rashford rates the pair as the top defenders on the planet, but remains confident that Gareth Southgate's men have the quality to hurt them.

'De Ligt and Virgil are probably the best centre backs in the world right now,' he said. 'We know how they defend. They like to be up [close] and behind you.

'We want to get them facing their own goal. We have the players to do it. Pretty much every forward can do that, that's what our game is about.

'If we can do that we know we can cause them problems.'

Van Dijk and De Ligt are not players England will need to be wary of in Guimaraes according to Rashford, who is in line to start the game with Harry Kane being rested.

'I can imagine they'll have a lot of possession but they have that drive that causes problems up the middle,' Rashford added.

'Look at Georginio Wijnaldum. When he's in a Liverpool shirt he's driving forward, he's scoring goals, he's creating opportunities. We'll try and develop our game to stop them.'

The Three Lions are playing in the inaugural Nations League finals after topping a group which also contained Spain and Croatia.

'It's new but the big teams will start to win it and put their names in its history,' Rashford said.

'Then the tournament will rise and rise. It could become one of the important tournaments in international football.'

Head & Shoulders, Official Hair Care Partner of the England Football Teams and the UK's #1 shampoo brand, spoke to Marcus Rashford at St. George's Park ahead of England's game against the Netherlands