Marcus Rashford shows true colours with perfect response to ‘attitude’ claim
Marcus Rashford was on the scoresheet as Barcelona beat Elche 3-1 in La Liga on Sunday night, with the Manchester United loanee netting his sixth goal of the season
Marcus Rashford has shown his true colours following Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Elche. The Manchester United loanee, who joined the Catalan giants on loan in the summer, fired Hansi Flick’s side to victory at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Sunday evening.
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring within the first few minutes, bending the ball into the top left corner from close range. Ferran Torres doubled Barcelona’s advantage a few moments later, finishing off a lovely move orchestrated by Fermin Lopez.
Rafa Mir clawed one back for the visitors just before the break, though Rashford sealed the deal with the decisive third goal in the second half. Instead of shifting onto his favoured right foot, the United loanee surged towards the touchline before unleashing a thunderous effort with his left.
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Rashford’s strike cannoned off the underside of the crossbar to secure the reigning La Liga champions all three points. The England international, who has been outstanding for Barcelona this season, has now scored six times and contributed seven assists across all competitions.
Speaking to Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo after the match, Rashford reflected on his display. The 28-year-old said: “I try to give my best. I could have done better against Elche, and I promise to improve because I’m not entirely happy with my performance overall.”
Rashford added: “We work hard to win. We’re taking it one game at a time. We need to keep playing as a team. This is Barca, and the demands must always be at their highest.”
Meanwhile, Torres said: “Perhaps we haven’t been as accurate in some plays as we should have been. We’ve found the spirit and the intensity. I think we’re finding the Barca of last season, when we devoured the pitch from the start.
“We needed to recover the joy of playing,” added the former Manchester City forward. “We saw during the week that they were going to play a man-to-man game, and we prepared for that. We were coming off a defeat, and we needed to win here, in our stadium and in front of our fans.”
Discussing his strike, which turned out to be his 50th for the club, Torres said: “I’m very happy to have scored. I try to help the team. I didn’t know that, but I’m very happy. Many more goals will come!”
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The Spain international devoted his effort to those affected by the floods in Valencia last year. Torres said: “It’s been a difficult week, and we can’t forget the people affected in Valencia, so I wanted to send them a message of solidarity and support through this goal.”
Should Barcelona choose not to trigger the option-to-buy clause, which is reportedly £28m, and Rashford heads back to United, Bryan Robson reckons the forward will need to change his attitude.
Speaking to Grosvenor Casinos, the Reds legend said: “Marcus is a great talent and everything, but I do think his attitude’s got to change if he does come back to United.
“Marcus is a great talent and everything, but I do think his attitude’s got to change if he does come back to United. Barcelona is different because we always know that Barcelona and Real Madrid are going to be dominant in their league.
“So for a player like Marcus playing with the top players like Barcelona have, he will improve and he will start enjoying his football a little bit better if he were to come back to United.
“I can’t believe that people say that he’s enjoying the two clubs that he left us for, and that you can’t enjoy your football at Man United. That seems crazy to me.”
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