Rashford, punished for being late to training with Barcelona
Star striker Marcus Rashford was benched in Barcelona’s match against Getafe due to a late arrival at a meeting, according to sources close to the club.
Rashford, who had performed outstandingly with two goals in the midweek victory against Newcastle United in the Champions League, was expected to start in Sunday’s match.
Barcelona players had to show up on match day at 9:30 a.m. for a meeting and an activation session at 11 a.m.
However, Rashford arrived at 9:32 a.m., two minutes after the deadline. Coach Hansi Flick applied a strict rule that prevented the English striker from starting the match, being a substitute.
Instead, Flick chose to line up Raphinha, Ferran Torres, and Robert Lewandowski in the attack.Marcus Rashford ingresó en el segundo tiempo, mostrando un buen desempeño.Flick maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards late arrivals, and players who incur this fault are usually excluded from the team.
Raphinha was also relegated to the bench in the previous match against Valencia for the same reason.
Other players like Jules Koundé and Iñaki Peña, now at Elche, have also been sanctioned for violating Flick’s rules.
Rashford entered the field in the second half and had an outstanding performance, assisting the third goal in the 3-0 victory, after Torres’s brace in the first half.
The player is starting to adapt to Barcelona after arriving on loan from Manchester United.
After not registering any goal contributions in his first four matches, in his last three appearances he has scored two goals and provided two assists.
Barcelona will return to action on Thursday, when they visit Real Oviedo, looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the LaLiga season.
