Less than a week after Marcus Rashford made all the right headlines with a brilliant Champions League brace against Newcastle, he made the wrong headlines.
When he should have built on his maverick game against Newcastle, Marcus Rashford instead had a transgression.
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick demoted him to the bench after he arrived late for training, something he had been guilty of multiple times at Man Utd as well.
However, he came off the bench and assisted Barcelona’s third goal in a 3-0 win, and the Spanish press had only one word for him.
Hansi Flick’s careful management of Marcus Rashford
Flick has been complimentary about Rashford throughout his spell at Barcelona so far, clearly recognising the mercurial player who can win games when he’s confident.
That doesn’t mean he will be given special treatment, however, and it was clear when Rashford was demoted to the bench despite being the star player in the Catalans’ previous game.
At the same time, the manager gave Rashford a chance to redeem himself as he was subbed on at half-time for Raphinha.
Rashford didn’t let Flick down, assisting Dani Olmo’s goal to make it 3-0 to Barcelona, and all parties will now hope to put this episode behind them.
In the process, Flick admitted what Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim had concluded about Rashford as well, which is his preference for playing on the left.
Flick had spoken about Rashford as a striker for his team, something which Thomas Tuchel wasn’t a fan of, and now Flick is coming around to it, albeit not completely, as he still snuck in “No. 9” at the end.
He said after the game, “We decided to bring Marcus in. He can also play on the right, but I think he prefers to play as a number 11 or as a number 9.”
Spanish press on ‘protagonist’ Rashford
It is clear by now that whatever Rashford does, good or bad, his profile means that it will always grab the eyeballs.
To Rashford’s credit, he has done more good than bad as he tries to convince Barcelona of the merits of making his move permanent.
Even after a professional transgression that led to his demotion to the bench, he made an impact, and that star quality wasn’t lost on the Spanish press.
After Mundo Deportivo reported his lateness to training, Marca called him the “protagonist” or the “main character” at Barcelona, which is high praise considering the wealth of talent in the club’s ranks.
They added that Rashford didn’t “feel” the punishment, staying actively involved in proceedings once he came on.
AS reported Flick’s comments, where the manager was clearly wary about making Rashford’s transgression public, putting it down to usual rotation instead.
Spanish Sports Illustrated ran a praise-piece for Rashford, raving about his quality as one of the five different Barcelona players to have scored a brace this season.
Finally, Mundo Deportivo raved about Rashford’s “killer pass” to Olmo for Barcelona’s third, clear that he left his professional transgression behind in a fine manner.
With Fermin Lopez potentially suffering an injury, the attacking ranks at Barcelona will thin further, opening the way for Rashford to make a bigger impact in the future.
Barcelona’s next game is against Real Oviedo on Thursday, September 25.
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