Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has revealed the reasoning behind his choice to bench Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford during their commanding 3-0 triumph over Getafe on Sunday night.
Rashford joined the Catalan giants on a season-long loan deal this summer, with Barcelona shouldering his entire salary and securing a £26million purchase option for United’s homegrown talent. The attacker has been finding his rhythm in recent outings – delivering an assist against Valencia before netting twice against Newcastle United in the Champions League.
However, the 27-year-old was excluded from Barca’s starting lineup in La Liga at the weekend. Claims in The Athletic suggest that Rashford was relegated to the bench following a late arrival at training on match day.
Flick is renowned for his rigid stance on preventing players from starting matches if they arrive late to training sessions or team meetings. Rashford now joins Raphinha, Jules Kounde, and Inaki Pena, who have all faced identical consequences.
Nevertheless, Flick refused to confirm speculation that the England star was omitted for disciplinary matters. The German tactician has maintained that he opted to start the winger amongst the substitutes purely to rotate his playing time.
For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express transfer newsletter.
“For Rashford, it’s normal not to play, matches are every three or four days,” he told Tribuna. “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.”