Marcus Rashford was dropped to the bench for Barcelona’s win over Getafe after the Manchester United loanee was two minutes late for a training session.
After scoring his first goals for the club last Thursday with a brilliant brace against Newcastle United in the Champions League, Rashford’s Barcelona career appeared to be up and running.
The forward was expected to retain his place in the starting XI when the La Liga giants hosted Getafe on Sunday, especially with Lamine Yamal still sidelined with injury.
But instead, Ferran Torres was named in the line-up, a decision that paid off as the former Manchester City star scored twice in the first-half.
Rashford came on at half-time for Raphinha and performed well, setting up Dani Olmo to score and seal a 3-0 win.
Get personalised updates on Manchester United every day
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link so we can send you football news tailored to you.
It was reported after the match that the England international was benched by Hansi Flick after turning up late to a pre-match training session on Sunday, with The Times claiming he was only two minutes late.
This punishment is nothing new, with Rashford the latest in a line of Barcelona players dropped by Flick for their tardiness, with Ballon d’Or frontrunner Raphinha benched only last week for showing up late to a pre-game fitness session.
This is also not the first time that Rashford has been punished for his lack of punctuality.
In December 2022, the 27-year-old overslept and was late for a team meeting, with Erik ten Hag dropping him for United’s subsequent clash against Wolves, where he came off the bench to score the winner.
After falling out a favour with Ruben Amorim, Rashford left Old Trafford over the summer to join Barcelona, who have the option to make the transfer permanent for £26million.
So far, the Three Lions star has two goals and two assists in six matches and it is said that Flick has made the player his personal project, determined to restore him to his former glory.
This transgression will be a blow to that process, but the fact that Rashford came off the bench against Getafe perhaps demonstrates Flick is hoping to move on quickly.
The German manager would also not confirm the reports about why the forward had been benched, instead saying it was because of fitness reasons.
‘For Rashford, it’s normal not to play, matches are every three or four days. We have to manage his minutes,’ Flick said after Sunday’s win.
‘You saw that with Fermin [Lopez]. 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.’
Rashford may return to the line-up when Barcelona travel to Real Oviedo on Thursday night for their next La Liga clash.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
