Football General Manager
- Rashford came on as half-time sub
- Flick: "He’s a week behind the others"
- Barca manager happy with 3-1 win over Vissel Kobe
Rashford appeared as a half-time substitute in Barca’s 3-1 win over Vissel Kobe in Japan on Saturday. The 27-year-old was pulled off on 78 minutes, as Flick admitted the United loanee is behind his teammates. The German coach said he and his coaching staff “want to look after” Rashford as he beds in with La Blaugrana. Despite his short cameo, Barcelona fans were happy with their new recruit’s efforts in defence.
Rashford has joined Barcelona on a season-long loan. The Catalonian club holds an option-to-buy clause worth €30m (£26m/$35m). He had little time to influence the game offensively, which Barcelona won comfortably thanks to goals from Eric Garcia, youngster Roony Bardghji and academy prospect Pedro Fernandez. Flick said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
Flick said: “He’s [Rashford] a week behind the others. 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. 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.”
Training away from his teammates at United, it appears the 27-year-old is not quite at the level required by his new employers. Rashford will have La Blaugrana’s La Liga opener against Mallorca on August 16 circled on his calendar. He has three pre-season games to get valuable minutes into his legs, ahead of that date.
