Flick gives ‘tired’ Marcus Rashford Barcelona verdict after Ferdinand message

Marcus Rashford delivered his seventh goal contribution in his last six matches for Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain, but the result was not what the Spanish giants wanted

Hansi Flick has confessed that Marcus Rashford was amongst three Barcelona stars who struggled with fatigue and was ‘very tired’ during their 2-1 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Rashford, 27, maintained his superb recent displays with another assist in a Barcelona shirt on Wednesday, teeing up Ferran Torres to break the deadlock at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. The England ace whipped in a pinpoint delivery across the penalty area for former Manchester City striker Torres to tuck away from close quarters.

Yet Barcelona ultimately threw away their advantage as PSG drew level before the interval through Senny Mayulu, who pounced on an error to make it 1-1. Despite dominating large portions of the second half, Barca were caught out late on as Goncalo Ramos exploited a high defensive line to convert Achraf Hakimi’s driven cross.

READ MORE: Marcus Rashford branded ‘bang average’ despite Man United reminder and Barcelona performanceREAD MORE: Spanish media react to Marcus Rashford performance after Barcelona lose in Europe

Speaking after the match, Flick revealed that Rashford was among the players who felt the physical toll of the encounter. “I think you could see in the second half that some players were very tired. Marcus, Pedri, [Frenkie] De Jong,” he told Diario AS.

“They gave their all on the pitch. At 1-1, you have to defend better. You have to learn and improve against teams of this quality.”

Rashford featured from the start and remained on the pitch until the 72nd minute when Robert Lewandowski replaced him. His assist marked his seventh direct goal contribution across his last six outings for Barca, having found the net twice against Newcastle United last month whilst providing one assist across the remaining five fixtures.

Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand responded to Rashford’s display against PSG and appeared thoroughly impressed by what he witnessed: “#Rashford looks reborn at @FCBarcelona [chart increasing emoji and collision emoji].”

Nevertheless, Tim Sherwood wasn’t quite as captivated by Rashford’s Champions League showing. The former Tottenham and Aston Villa boss labelled him as “bang average” whilst drawing comparisons with Lamine Yamal.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Sherwood said: “He’s (Rashford) done OK. It suits him better when they had more control and they’re getting the ball out to him. But it’s unfair for him because Lamine Yamal gets it on the right hand side, does a lot of pirouettes, the crowd is up, he has shots at goal and they drop off him.

“When it goes out to the left to Marcus, he is one dimensional, we know what Marcus is and he’s very effective when he does it. He knocks it, he runs past people and when he doesn’t the crowd think, ‘why don’t you give us the same as the genius on the other side?’

“It’s harsh on him (Rashford) I know, but it’s a very difficult environment for him to play in. Marcus Rashford will develop if he wants to and get better playing in this Barcelona side. He has to get better.”

Sherwood quipped: “At the moment, he looks bang average because the kid on the other side is so good.”

Next up for Barca and Rashford is a trip to Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.

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