Perhaps then, Marcus Rashford wasn’t the problem at Manchester United. Whatever the system, whatever the disciplinary issues, any team should be able to find space for a talent capable of bending a Champions League game like he did.
Barcelona will be delighted that they did, a rummage around on the Old Trafford scrap heap, getting them an England international without having to pay a loan fee. His wages might be sizeable, but when he drifts off the left flank and hits a strike as sweetly as he did in the 67th minute, cutting across the ball to leave it almost hanging in the air before dipping at the last moment, those wages become more than worth it. Barcelona have scored some special goals in the Champions League before, a fair few by the young lad Rashford replaced in this team, but that holds up in comparison to any of them.
With Rashford’s second — a poacher’s header when he found space off a possibly concussed Fabian Schar had opened the scoring — St. James‘ Park was deflated. Anthony Gordon might have raised hopes in the final minutes of normal time, but they had left it too late to get off the deck after what proved to be the knockout blow from Rashford.
He could scarcely have picked a better moment to announce himself to Barcelona. His first four games had brought promise without reward but a more transitional, Premier League-ish game suited Rashford well as he stepped into the spotlight vacated by the injured Lamine Yamal. Even before his goals, the travelling culers saw flashes of the fearless verve that their new man first brought to Manchester United nearly a decade ago. Dropping into his own half, he let Joan Garcia’s throw roll past both him and Kieran Trippier, the afterburners taking him well clear of the veteran right back. The finish was miscued, but this was still a player who could get his shot.
He kept doing that, finding pockets of space inside and outside the box and offering a bit more cutting edge at the end of Barcelona’s midfield progression. Without the ball, he was perfectly prepared to track in a way that many Manchester United fans had come to suspect he wouldn’t in a red shirt. If Rashford was going to play in a Hansi Flick team then off-the-ball work is a sine qua non. Rashford has put his nose to the grindstone, no Barcelona player bettered his six ball recoveries. It is amazing what can happen when you put a talented player in a functioning football environment (maybe don’t dwell too long on off-field matters) and an established tactical system that suits the players.
Rashford hadn’t lacked for confidence from the outset but with his smart header just before the hour, it seemed to ripple through him. He knew he could beat Trippier whenever he fancied it. Why not take on a few more? When a flick on was cleared back to him, a quick shimmy and burst brought him a sliver of distance from Sandro Tonali. There really shouldn’t have been enough space for him to hit one but he is a Barcelona forward. He should be able to deliver the impossible.
“It was just a split second where I felt a gap and I could see the far post,” Rashford told TNT after the match. “When you’re going away from goal, it’s difficult to generate the power and keep it low, so I just tried to hit it high. I knew when I caught it, it’d take something from the keeper to stop it.”
So easy did the fit look, it was hard to believe this was only Rashford’s fifth game in Barcelona colors. Certainly, you can already see the long-term value he could bring to the squad should Joan Laporta be able to rustle up the $35 million that would allow the Catalans to activate their purchase option. Maybe planning for the summer is premature but wouldn’t Barcelona, who looked a little light beyond their starting front three, want a player who can comfortably step in on the left flank in Raphinha’s absence and provide center forward cover for Robert Lewandowski or whoever succeeds him? Given how well Raphinha performed on the right on Thursday, Rashford looks like the ideal fourth attacker for a Champions League contender.
The Barcelona hierarchy won’t be the only ones thinking about the summer after this performance. Watching on among the St. James’ Park faithful, the England manager saw how effective a settled Rashford can be when surrounded by high-grade attacking talent. Thomas Tuchel has not needed much encouraging to back Rashford, who was named in the England squad earlier this month. A few more games like this and he will be set fair to make the World Cup squad.
That will be where Rashford’s focus lies, that and winning the biggest prizes in the game with Barcelona. For those who have followed the course of his career, it will, however, be hard not to feel a pang of frustration at the years wasted on a string of doomed Manchester United projects. When he left for Catalonia this summer, there were those who were unimpressed by the farewell comments of a team in “no man’s land.” It is easier now to see why Rashford was so unable to hide his frustration. He must have known he still had the talent to deliver for his boyhood club but that they could not put him in positions to do so.
It was easy to fear that the damage to Rashford’s career might be irreparable. It would appear not. He might still be the player he was at the Parc des Princes and in the early months of 2023. If so, this might not be the last time Rashford swings a big game in Barcelona’s direction.
