Marcus Rashford makes Barcelona debut during friendly win in Japan | OneFootball

Marcus Rashford made his first appearance for Barcelona in a 3-1 friendly win against Vissel Kobe in Japan.

The 27-year-old, who has joined the Catalan club from Manchester United on a season-long loan, was introduced at half-time before being withdrawn after 78 minutes.

Rashford had an effort saved during his first outing for Hansi Flick’s side, who took the win courtesy of goals from Eric Garcia, Roony Bardghji and academy star Pedro Fernandez.

Bardghji, another summer arrival from Copenhagen, put Barcelona back in front after Taisei Miyashiro had levelled for the hosts.

Spain star Lamine Yamal, 18, was presented with Barcelona’s famous number 10 shirt – previously worn by the likes of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi – before kick-off.

Flick, quoted on Barcelona’s website, explained why Rashford only played for 33 minutes, saying: “He’s a week behind the others. He hasn’t been training as much with the ball, and we want to look after him.”

Rashford, in a Barca video shown by Sky Sports News, said: “Good performance, good to play in front of the fans, good (for) fitness. So I’m looking forward to the next games.

“Pleased that we could win the game today but of course the most important thing is just settling in and, for the team, getting the patterns in and playing good football and I thought we did that in both halves.

“It’s difficult in games like that where you change the team at half-time, but I thought we did well.”

He added: “The reason I’m here is to help the team try to win. So I’m going to listen to whatever information I need to listen to and try to put it into the game and help the team go forward.

“I can play over different positions. It’s one of my strengths, to play across the front line. I’ll play where the team needs me and try to score goals and create goals from those positions.”