Rashford impresses with first goals for Barcelona as Tuchel watches
NEWCASTLE England AP Marcus Rashford was Plan B for Barcelona this summer Second-best looked pretty good after the on-loan Manchester United forward scored his first two goals for his new organization on Thursday That brace helped Barcelona start its Champions League campaign with a - win at Newcastle And what a pair of goals they were Rashford broke the deadlock in the th minute when he floated to the penalty spot and used a powerful flick of his head to drive in a pass by Jules Kound He improved on that nine minutes later by latching onto a loose ball outside the area skirting to his right to avoid defenders before blasting the ball over goalkeeper Nick Pope off the underside of the crossbar and into the net It is going good I am learning a new way of football and it s making me a better competitor Rashford noted It is an amazing experience to play for Barcelona and we want to win as much as achievable It is refreshing to play with these guys England coach Thomas Tuchel was among the spectators at St James Park who were momentarily silenced by Rashford s second strike Marcus was spectacular Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo explained We know what he can do because we see it in practice We are happy he is with us and hope he can keep playing like this Rashford joined Barcelona on loan in July for this season only after the Spanish champions had been snubbed in their attempt to lure Spain winger Nico Williams from Athletic Bilbao He had once been considered among Europe s top talents but in contemporary years the -year-old had seen his career stall after falling out of favor at United and ending last season on loan at Aston Villa So there were doubts about his ability to significantly contribute to a association stacked with talent that had reached the Champions League semifinals last season and won a domestic double of La Liga and Copa del Rey Coach Hansi Flick gave Rashford the start at Newcastle with star forward Lamine Yamal out injured for a second straight match Rashford had had minutes in all four of Barcelona s Spanish league games and been substituted at halftime of one of his two previous starts without scoring After his goals on Thursday Flick noted that he was not surprised by Rashford s performance This match these two goals here in England in the first Champions League battle that is just great That gives him confidence and shows what he can do Flick noted He is a great talent with incredible skills and incredible finishing Barcelona sports director Deco and I spoke before the season about how we needed a member like him Rashford declared the squad is fully focused The ambition is to win the Champions League nothing else is on our minds he reported It is going to be tough we know that AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source
