Marcus Rashford has belatedly arrived at Barcelona – and all it took was a return to England to spark the Manchester United misfit into life, with the forward netting a breathtaking brace in the Blaugrana’s 2-1 win over Newcastle at St. James’ Park.
Despite sitting deep, the home side caused the Spanish champions plenty of problems on the break during the first half, with Anthony Elanga particularly lively. However, Rashford broke the deadlock just before the hour mark with a fantastic header that Alan Shearer would have been proud of, and then completely silenced St. James’ Park with a thumping strike from outside the area that also evoked memories of Newcastle’s legendary No.9.
Credit to the Magpies, they kept battling and pulled a goal back in the final minute of normal time when Anthony Gordon turned in Jacob Murphy’s ring-wing cross but it was very much a case of too little, too late.
Below, GOAL rates all of the Barcelona players on show as Rashford revived his hopes of representing England at next year’s World Cup…