Marcus Rashford was left out of Barcelona’s starting line-up to face Getafe on Sunday night after arriving late to training on the morning of the game.
Rashford, 27, had been looking to continue his good form after scoring twice in Barcelona’s 2-1 Champions League victory at Newcastle United.
But his lack of punctuality — which sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Athletic — saw head coach Hansi Flick continue his policy of not selecting players to start a match if they have been late to training or a meeting.
In the last year, Inaki Pena, Jules Kounde and Raphinha have also suffered the same treatment after lateness. Raphinha’s incident occurred last week, but the Brazilian then came on at half-time of the game against Valencia and scored twice in the 6-0 win before being restored to the starting line-up against Newcastle.
Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo came in for Rashford and Fermin Lopez from Flick’s team that beat Newcastle, with the former scoring twice in the first half at the Estadi Johan Cruyff. Barcelona continue to play at their training facility’s ground due to the ongoing work at Camp Nou.
Like Raphinha a week earlier, Rashford came on at half-time, replacing the Brazilian, and provided an assist for Dani Olmo for Barcelona’s third goal.
Rashford signed on loan from Manchester United in July and had registered two goals and one assist in five matches at his new club before the Getafe match.
Rashford forced Flick’s hand, just days after show of confidence…
Flick punishing players for arriving late is nothing new. The few matches in which Kounde did not start last season were, among other things, for this reason.
It happened twice, against Deportivo Alaves and Rayo Vallecano. “It’s not that difficult to show up and do your job. It’s not just about me, but about respect for the players and everyone else,” Flick said at a news conference after the match against Rayo.
It also happened to Pena in January, with the La Masia graduate losing his place in the starting line-up for the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals. Flick punished Pena by giving Wojciech Szczesny — who had arrived three months earlier to replace the long-term absentee Marc-Andre ter Stegen — his debut in the Spaniard’s place, and the coach liked him so much that he has now made the Pole his first-choice goalkeeper.
Raphinha arrived late a week ago for the match against Valencia and was also a substitute, and now Rashford is the latest player to suffer this fate. The England international arrived late for the last training session before the match and went straight to the bench — the same rule applies to everyone.
Raphinha scored twice at home against Valencia after being dropped last weekend (David Ramos/Getty Images)
It is particularly surprising in the case of Rashford. He left the Premier League on bad terms and arrived at Barcelona eager to prove himself. Flick has been very close to him since he arrived because he is a player he likes a lot, whom he asked for from the start of the summer to the sporting management and whom he wants to succeed with him.
According to club sources, who, like all those cited here, wish to remain anonymous to protect their jobs, Flick is paying special attention to the forward, who seems to have landed on his feet in the team. Flick knows Rashford needs more self-esteem and has therefore made a point of praising him highly during press conferences. It worked, as he scored twice against Newcastle and was named player of the match.
Flick has a lot of confidence in Rashford and has made sure that everyone knows it. It is surprising that a few days after the German publicly showed such confidence in him, and knowing his rules, he arrived late, knowing that he would be punished.
It does not seem like a smart move.
…but a quick reprieve
Flick’s punishments are becoming shorter and shorter. As the saying goes, when God — or Flick, in this case — closes a door, he opens a window. Rashford began warming up before the end of the first half to come on as a substitute after the break.
Torres had scored twice and it wasn’t the right time to change him, while Robert Lewandowski needs to be given playing time after recovering from injury, so Rashford came on for Raphinha.
The former Aston Villa man played on the right wing and had a good spell. He assisted Olmo for the final goal in the 3-0 win and produced some quality moves. In the 68th minute, he dribbled the ball from right to left into the area, something unusual and difficult for a right-footed player on the right, and shot well with an effort that was saved by Getafe goalkeeper David Soria.
When Torres left and Roony Bardghji came on, with a quarter of an hour to go, Rashford returned to his position on the left wing. He was good at starting moves, provided an assist and had some good chances, the last one in the 90th minute. A good performance for a redeemed Rashford.
(Top photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)