What Spanish media are saying about Marcus Rashford – real reason he was late and telling response

Marcus Rashford has been spared by the Spanish media after being dropped for arriving late to a pre-match meeting. Despite his superb match-winning brace against Newcastle in the Champions League last week, the on-loan striker found himself on the bench for Barca’s La Liga clash with Getafe on Sunday.

Rashford came off the bench at half-time and set up a Dani Olmo goal as Hansi Flick’s side strolled to a 3-0 home win. Since the game, it has been widely reported in Spain that Rashford was cut from the starting line-up after being two minutes late for a team rendezvous.

His tardiness has been attributed to filling out an electronic form, which the club requires every player to complete each day. The Manchester United loanee wasn’t late for the pre-match activation session, due to start an hour later, but Flick, a strict disciplinarian, insists any player who doesn’t arrive on time doesn’t start the following game.

Rashford isn’t the first player to be affected by the German coach’s team rules, with Jules Kounde, Inaki Pena, and, most recently, Raphinha being dropped for similar reasons. Rashford was reportedly due to start the Getafe game on the left side of Barca’s attack, but Ferran Torres got the nod instead.

His response to his omission was telling, though, with no suggestion that he sulked about being dropped. After replacing Raphinha at the break, Rashford impressed on the right side of the attack as well as laying on Olmo’s game-clinching third goal.

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While the Spanish media has largely overlooked aside Rashford’s indiscretion, former Spain international Lluis Carreras wasn’t so lenient as he backed Flick’s methods. He said via SER: “I can’t imagine being late to a training camp. It shows the coach that you're not fully focused on the match.

“Since you haven’t been focused, I’ll give you half so you can stay involved in the game. Raphinha [who scored twice after coming on against Valencia] showed that with two goals, Rashford with an assist, and it seems logical to me.”

But it was all positive from Rashford after the game when he took to Instagram. “+3 points, vamos equipo [let’s go team],” he wrote with an image of himself in action.

When questioned about his decision to bench Rashford, Flick insisted he was managing the forward’s workload, saying: “For Rashford, it’s normal not to play. Matches are every three or four days. We have to manage his minutes.

“You saw that with Fermin. He played many minutes, and we have to take that into account. We got three points, 3-0. Everything is great. We must focus on our game.

“We scored three goals, and it's not always easy to score three goals against a strong team. I don't want to talk about the opponent; I want to talk about my team. We must focus on our game and our plan.” Barca, who are two points behind leaders Real Madrid, visit Real Oviedo on Thursday.

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