FC Barcelona started their preseason on the right foot defeating Vissel Kobe in Japan (1-3). Hansi Flick's team went from less to more in a match where the locals gave more 'fight' than expected, especially in a first half that ended in a draw. After the break, the coach completely changed his XI, bringing in Marcus Rashford.
The Englishman took the place of Fermín López as a left winger, forming the offensive trident together with Roony Bardghji and Robert Lewandowski, with Dani Olmo behind the '9' as an attacking midfielder. The '14', although he only played 33 minutes, left a good impression on his debut.
Although the Manchester player arrived without any physical problems, logically he is still far from an optimal competitive rhythm, since he only has a couple of training sessions in Barcelona and, prior to his signing, he worked apart from the United squad in England.
Marcus Rashford: depth and associative play on the left
Even so, Marcus left very good feelings in Kobe. The Englishman only missed a couple of passes in 18 attempts (88% efficiency), with one shot on goal and one chance created. Beyond not completing dribbles or winning individual duels (he lost all four he played), he recovered three balls and participated in the play of Barça's second goal.
In the 77th minute, a ball into space from Rashford enabled 'Lewy' to face the goal from the left. The Pole saw Bardghji free on the other side, who finished first-time, with his left foot, the Pole's pass to surprise goalkeeper Arai.
A couple of minutes before, the '14' had also filtered a beautiful pass that left Roony well positioned to shoot, but his shot went over the crossbar. The Swede, however, had revenge on his debut with the Barça shirt.
Just after the 1-2, Hansi Flick gave the left winger a rest with the entry of Pedro Fernández 'Dro'. The youth player, ten minutes later, closed the Barça victory with another remarkable finish, taking advantage of a defective control by Dani Olmo.
Hansi Flick reveals his reasons for taking Rashford off in the final stretch
In the post-match statements, the coach explained his reasons for taking the British striker off in the final stretch of the match. The '14' and Jofre Torrents were the only players who played less than 45 minutes on the day.
"Rashford has not trained much with the ball and that is why we have been careful", argued Flick. Next Tuesday, Barça will travel to South Korea to play two more friendlies against FC Seoul and Daegu FC.
There, Marcus will have the opportunity to continue adding quality minutes to optimize his competitive rhythm. In principle, adaptation will not be a problem, since the Englishman looked very comfortable on the left in his first minutes on the field. With his signing, Barça gains depth on the bench, with the Manchester player being the first alternative to Raphinha as a left winger.
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