Marcus Rashford becomes late doubt for Barcelona-Athletic Club after missing second training | OneFootball

Barcelona are facing a late doubt ahead of their return to Camp Nou against Athletic Club. Hansi Flick’s squad will be desperate to feature on an historic day, with many of the players never having played at Camp Nou before, but Marcus Rashford is a late doubt for the game.

The England international has featured there before on several occasions as a Manchester United player, but never for Barcelona of course. He was in action under Thomas Tuchel earlier this week, playing 15 minutes and providing an assist against Albania. Last wee he featured for 64 minutes against Serbia, with both ending 2-0 to the Three Lions. However Rashford has missed Barcelona’s last two training sessions before facing Athletic on Saturday.

Rashford has not suffered an injury

Despite the curious sequence of events, Diario AS ensure that Rashford has not suffered an injury. He was present at Barcelona’s training ground early on Friday morning to speak with Flick, and request his permission to miss training for a second day. They say his absences are related to a personal issue, and he is not completely ruled out from action against Los Leones. Clearly, missing their preparation for the game is far from ideal though.

Image via Judit Cartiel/Getty Images

Barcelona’s scarce options on the left

Rashford has monopolised the left side of Barcelona’s attack since Raphinha went down with injury, and he remains the only natural option there. Raphinha is expected to return to the matchday squad on Saturday, but is highly unlikely to start, as he makes his way back to fitness. Barcelona’s plan is for the Brazilian to be in condition to start against Alaves the following week.

As such, Rashford was expected to start against Athletic and Chelsea in the Champions League. Flick could use Ferran Torres, Fermin Lopez or Roony Bardghji there, but none are at their most comfortable there.