Marcus Rashford told when he will become ‘really important’ for Barcelona as loanee subbed at half-time on first start

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick insisted Marcus Rashford showed he could help despite substituting him at half-time in his first start for the club.

The England international was handed his LaLiga bow for his new side on Saturday during Barca’s 3-2 comeback win over Levante.

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Rashford, who completed a season-long loan switch from Manchester United last month, impressed for Flick’s side during pre-season.

The 27-year-old notched a goal and an assist in his four friendly appearances and was handed his official debut in Barca’s opener.

He played just 21 minutes off the bench in a 3-0 win over Mallorca, with the Catalans already cruising, and was afforded his opportunity to impress from the start on matchday two.

Rashford lined up in his favoured left-wing role, with Lamine Yamal on the other flank, and Raphinha playing behind Ferran Torres.

Despite a bright opening spell, the Blaugrana found themselves 2-0 down at the break and staring down the barrel of an unlikely defeat.

Rashford was the unfortunate party among the attack to suffer the consequences, as Flick rang the changes in the interval.

The Englishman was hooked alongside midfielder Marc Casado, with Dani Olmo and Gavi sent on to rescue the result.

To add insult to injury, Barcelona found themselves on level terms within seven minutes of the restart after Pedri and Torres scored.

Levante’s Unai Elgezabal then diverted Lamine Yamal’s cross past his own goalkeeper in added time to complete Barca’s comeback.

Explaining his decision to sub Rashford off, Flick said: “Marcus had a few chances in the first half and showed he can help us. In the second half, we needed to make changes and we put Raphinha on the wing.”

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Rashford sub was right change to make

“I think they were the right changes to make,” Flick continued. “The first goal after the break changed the game.”

Rashford will be hoping Flick’s decision isn’t a sign of things to come, with Barcelona holding an option to make his loan move permanent next summer.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT.com before Saturday’s match against Levante, European football expert Andy Brassell predicted the start of the club’s Champions League campaign will be when the forward will become really important at Camp Nou.

“They’re really pleased to have him,” Brassell stressed on Rashford, when discussing his opening month in Spain on Friday.

“I think the fact that he’s got this versatility and he’s the player they wanted in that sense.”

Rashford is ideal for Barcelona

“Now, obviously, Nico Williams was the first choice. But in terms of versatility, in terms of what he costs, because he’s obviously made a financial effort to go there.

“He’s not permanent, at least not for the moment. He is ideal for Barcelona, really.

“And clearly, Rashford really, really wants to be there. So that’s important.

“I mean, it’s funny because if you go to the back end of last season and you look at the way they didn’t get in the Champions League final against Inter, when they dominated most of those two games, I think a lot of people would have looked at that and said, well, they could maybe do with some defenders or a midfield anchor player.

“And particularly, actually, talking of defenders, they’ve lost Inigo Martinez to the Saudi Pro League, and could really do with a replacement for him, even though Ronaldo Araujo has come back from injury.

“So it was interesting to hear Deco, who’s the sporting director there, say from the very start of the transfer window, what we need is cover for Lamine Yamal and Raphinha.

“That’s the most important thing. We can’t drive, and to a lesser extent, Robert Lewandowski, we can’t plough them into the ground by making them play 55, 60 matches. And I guess that’s not the first.

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“It makes sense, but I guess it’s not the way that a lot of people watching Barcelona from a layman’s perspective would have looked at it. So to get a player in that position was a priority.

“He really wanted to come, which is big.

“I think in terms of helping him settle, the fact that Hansi Flick does all his coaching and media in English is probably quite helpful for Marcus Rashford as well in terms of settling, integrating, and realising what the team really want for him.

“In terms of that first game, it was a weird old day because he was only officially registered on LaLiga‘s website just past 10.30am in the morning. And then he played in the evening. So he didn’t know the whole time. A whole week leading up to it, he went, I believe in the club, I think they’re going to get me registered.

“It’s like, well, this is the exact reason that Nico Williams didn’t sign, because you can’t really promise anything.

“LaLiga have been a little bit cynical about whether Barcelona had the ability to do that. Obviously, the [Marc-Andre] ter Stegen injury helped them register Joan Garcia, the goalkeeper, for example. And it took personal guarantees from some of the directors to register Rashford.

“So by the time he came on, the game was kind of a dead duck, really.

“Given that there was such drama at the start of the day and the night before, it’s remarkable that it comes on and you’re playing a team that have got two players less than you and you’re tuning up, so what you can really prove in that time it’s just about getting minutes in the legs, really.

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Rashford starts to become really important in Champions League

“I think once the Champions League starts and they’ve got game, game, game, game, game, game, game, then Rashford starts to become really important.

“That’s the bit, I think, especially with an eight-game Champions League group where they know that they’re going to have to change the team, and now they understand the format a little bit.

“I think teams are going into it blind last season, not really knowing how many points they need to get top 24 or top eight or whatever.

“But whereas now I think there’s a marker, I think we’ll see teams probably shuffle their teams, their first 11s, a little bit more efficiently this season. I would imagine then Rashford starts getting proper games.”