Rashford nets first Barcelona goals in Champions League win: "Fantastic" | OneFootball

Two goals from English striker Marcus Rashford gave Barcelona a 2-1 victory over Newcastle this Thursday (18), at St. Jame’s Park, in the debut of both teams in the Champions League. The striker, who scored his first two goals with the Barça shirt, resolved a difficult duel for the Spanish team, which had the victory threatened when Anthony Gordon discounted for Newcastle in the final stretch.

"I'm very happy. They were two fantastic goals, a great game. We did an excellent job," said the top scorer of the night in an interview in the mixed zone.

In the second half, while Barcelona held the pressure from the home team, Jules Koundé crossed from the right and Rashford finished with a header to beat goalkeeper Nick Pope. Shortly after, the English striker recovered the ball in the attacking field and fired a bomb from outside the area to score a great goal.

But Newcastle continued to press and got their goal before the final whistle. Gordon took advantage of Jacob Murphy's low pass and lifted the English fans, who kept hope in the seven minutes of stoppage time, but the score remained unchanged.

"It's very important to start the Champions League with three points in Newcastle. We saw a very good performance from the whole team. The atmosphere is fantastic," said Barcelona coach Hansi Flick after the match.

"We were the protagonists, we dominated the game. When they scored, it got complicated, it's normal. The team wanted, they played, we had the ball. We are happy because it is important to start the Champions League like this," celebrated Uruguayan defender Ronald Araújo in statements to the Movistar+ platform.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.