Three English teams were pitted against Spanish sides in this week's Uefa Champions League group phase; three times the English teams were victors.
Despite the disparity in wealth, Spanish sides have been far more successful at winning European trophies than English clubs this century.
Until 2025, in the past 27 finals involving Spanish teams in World Cups, European Championships, the Champions League and the Uefa Cup/Europa League, all 27 resulted in wins for Spain. But in May, Chelsea beat Real Betis in European football’s third competition, the Conference League. Given the disparity in revenues, how much longer can La Liga outclass the Premier League?
Real Madrid and Barcelona are a league apart in Spain. Barca’s win at Newcastle United on Thursday evening was no surprise. That Marcus Rashford was the key player, with two spectacular goals, was. The 27-year-old striker, on loan from Manchester United, scored his first and second goals in Barcelona colours to win the game for his new club.
Rashford needed them. If Barcelona are to agree to buy him at the end of the season for a £30 million fee, he needs to be productive in a side that scores every game. He needs goals and assists and this week has been his best one since he joined in July.
A wondrous assist in a 6-0 win at home to Valencia started the week well, but the talk was still of how many goals and assists he’ll make – something Barcelona’s sports director Deco has alluded to.
Rashford has a great believer in coach Hansi Flick, though. The German has long admired him, pushed for him to join and is doubtless satisfied that he’s starting to get a tune out of a player who was so out of key for most of the past two seasons at Old Trafford. There was always mitigation as to why Rashford wasn’t thriving at United, but some of that was on the player, too. The result was that a change was as good as a rest and best for both parties who had grown tired of each other.
Rashford is now living by the Mediterranean to the south of Barcelona. He is popular with his teammates. A change of scene and the good fortune to play at a club most footballers would love to be at suits him. An injury to Lamine Yamal, Barcelona’s best player, saw the likelihood of him starting at Newcastle increase. He seized his chance.
Newcastle was the perfect stage for him, a stadium at which he’s performed well at in the past. England is a country that watches little La Liga football, but one that would tune in to see how he fared for Barcelona against Newcastle. Rashford did very well.
Amid a noisy St James’ Park, man-of-the-match Rashford arrived as a Barca player, with the 800 travelling fans high on the third tier singing "Rassssshford! Rasssssshford!" Those fans had given him a clean slate when he arrived, a chance to prove himself at a new club.
Rashford was in form in the first half but it was in the second where he became the first English player in Barcelona’s history to score two goals for the club in his home country. The first was a perfectly executed header from a sweet Jules Kounde cross after 58 minutes. Eight minutes later, Rashford beat Sandro Tonali twice before hitting a spectacular dipping rocket of a shot which crashed in off the Leazes’ End cross bar. Job done.
“When there was a chance to sign him, I said, ‘Yeah, lets’ do it’,” said Flick when asked about Rashford. “I said to him, ‘I want you in my team.’ His skills are unbelievable; he is a fantastic player. When we spoke before the season of what we needed, it was a player like him.”
Rashford’s confidence can rise again but he will need to turn it on repeatedly wherever Barcelona play their games, which remains in doubt as a return to Camp Nou gets pushed back and back. Their next match in the Champions League will be against Paris Saint-Germain on October 1, a tie which has been switched to the city’s Olympic Stadium in Montjuic. The intervening home league fixtures will be played at the tiny 6,000-seater Estadi Johann Cruyff where Barca’s reserves and women’s teams play. There are games every three or four days for Barcelona and there will be plenty of chances for Rashford to make his mark.
United fans are divided on Rashford. They want to see him prosper since that should result in Barcelona making his move permanent, but they wanted him to succeed at Old Trafford even more. As with many footballers, playing for United was not something that was going to plan for Rashford. The move was the right one for him and it’s starting to pay dividends.
“I’m full of excitement, motivated, and determined,” a buoyant Rashford said in Newcastle late on Wednesday. “The quality we have excites me. It’s refreshing, such confidence and understanding of the game.”
