Marcus Rashford made his Barcelona debut at the weekend during the club’s tour of Japan, with a 30-minute cameo his first appearance for the Blaugrana since joining on loan from Manchester United
Marcus Rashford made his Barcelona debut on Sunday, enjoying a 30-minute cameo after completing his switch from Manchester United.
Rashford joined the Blaugrana last week on a season-long loan move after being made part of Ruben Amorim’s ‘Bomb Squad’ at Old Trafford. Barca have the option to make Rashford’s deal permanent for £26million next summer.
After training with his new teammates in Spain, Rashford flew out on the club’s pre-season tour of Japan. And the Catalan giants kicked off wiht a 3-1 victory over Vissel Kobe in Rashford’s first match.
Rashford came on at half-time before being replaced in the 78th minute. After the match, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick explained why the 27-year-old came off 33 minutes after coming on.
“He’s week behind the others,” he said. “He hasn’t been training as much with the ball, and we want to look after him. It was a very good match, a good test for us.
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“The first 30 minutes were fantastic. After that we lost a bit of control, but the second half was also very good. I’m pleased. What they do with the ball, how they pressed us, it’s really interesting. You can tell they have a clear idea, and it’s similar to ours.”
While things went well for Barca on the pitch, off it was a different story. Following the win, the club were forced to post a short statement, apologising to supporters over their live stream of the friendly.
It read: “The club apologises for inconvenience caused during the broadcast of the game against Vissel Kobe. FC Barcelona’s streaming platforms received an attack of large proportions from various pages attempting to capture the live feed of the preseason game against Vissel Kobe.
“As a result of this avalanche of requests, the system engaged the pertinent security mechanisms which then affected the broadcast on the website and the Culers App.
“Straightaway, the decision was taken to offer the game free on the Clubs’ YouTube platform to guarantee the broadcast of the game. The club apologises for the inconvenience caused and will be contact with all those people affected.”
Next up for Barca is a friendly against Seoul in the South Korean capital on Thursday. Rashford will have a reunion with ex-United team-mate Jesse Lingard, who captains the K-League giants.
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