Barcelona return to action on Saturday against Athletic Club, which will be their first match back at the Spotify Camp Nou in almost 30 months. Hansi Flick is expecting to have the likes of Joan Garcia, Marc Casado and Raphinha available after injury absences, but a new potential issue has now arisen.
Marcus Rashford has been in excellent form for Barcelona since establishing himself in the starting line-up, where he has been expected to remain for the visit of Athletic. However, there are doubts about whether he will be able to line up at the Spotify Camp Nou, with Sport reporting that he missed training on Thursday.
Rashford, who played in both of England’s matches during the international break, was not present at the Barcelona training ground at all. At this stage, it is not clear why he missed the session, although the report has claimed that any injury is not believed to be serious. As such, he still has chances to play against Athletic.
Given that Raphinha is returning from back-to-back hamstring injuries, Barcelona will be keen to ease him back into action. Flick will have had no plans to start him on Saturday, but he could be forced into doing so if Rashford, who could sign permanently in Catalonia next summer, is not fit enough to be involved.
It remains to be seen how the situation with Rashford evolves, but if he is back in training on Friday, it would almost be certain that he is okay to be involved at the Spotify Camp Nou. Barcelona will certainly hope that he will be able to start on the left wing, a position that he now faces a fight to keep due to Raphinha’s imminent return.
For now, Rashford’s case will be one to keep an eye on, with more clarity expected in the next 24 hours.
