Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford recorded his first assist for Barcelona in their 6-0 thrashing of Valencia after joining the La Liga giants this summer
Isaac is a senior NCTJ-trained journalist with an MA in News Journalism. He has experience of working for national and regional news organisations including the Express, the Mirror and the Manchester Evening News. He currently covers sport across all national and regional sites at Reach PLC.
Marcus Rashford registered his first assist for Barcelona on loan from Manchester United(Image: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Marcus Rashford has delivered his best moment in a Barcelona shirt two months after joining on loan from Manchester United.
The Reds academy graduate has endured a slow start to life in Catalonia since arriving on a season-long loan in July. The 27-year-old will be looking to take his chance in La Liga to prove some of his critics wrong after a difficult few years.
Rashford looked somewhat like his old self on loan at Aston Villa last season, but was still some way short of peak form. That has, by and large, continued this season with Barcelona and England. The forward had no assists or goals to his name and was largely anonymous in performances for club and country.
But Rashford is now off the mark at Barca with an incredible pass to assist Raphinha’s first goal in their 6-0 thrashing of Valencia on Sunday night. There will now be hope that this moment gives Rashford lift-off in a crucial campaign for the winger.
Rashford’s performance in the Spanish top-flight this weekend came on the same day that his parent club were well beaten by rivals Manchester City. Ruben Amorim was not keen on the England international, but his performance on Sunday has compounded a bad day for United’s head coach.
And United fans will be well aware of Rashford’s good goal-scoring record in Manchester derbies. The attacker has netted seven goals in 23 appearances against City.
It’s still too early to tell whether United’s loanee will prove Amorim wrong. Neither player nor coach have looked good since Amorim’s arrival at Old Trafford in November last year.
United’s head coach has looked out of his depth at times while almost appearing open to the prospect of being sacked. Meanwhile, there must also be questions for Rashford to answer.
The Amorim and Rashford arc is set to be a fascinating story to follow this season and there are still plenty of chapters to come.
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