Rashford revives in Barça's hard-fought Champions League win

Special envoy to Newcastle (England)Starting over. It's nice to have new opportunities and embrace them tightly. Marcus Rashford chose the best stage and the best time to be reborn and feel like he's playing in the Champions League again. The English player had gone three years without two goals in a game and almost five without scoring in the Champions League. And in just a few minutes, he scored two beautiful strikes to leave a very combative Newcastle side with their noses in the sand. The Manchester United player showed the way forward in Europe at Barça: knowing how to strike when necessary and knowing how to suffer. The Champions League debut wasn't easy, as expected. And, in fact, Rashford's opening act was Joan Garcia, very confident between the sticks when he played, even in the final minutes when Newcastle managed to score, keeping the St. James's Park pot boiling until the end.

If everyone wants the Champions League, it's precisely because it's hard to catch. It slips through your fingers when you try, as happened a few months ago in Milan. We remember the final matches of each edition, the finals, and the epic goals, but first, we had to travel along secondary roads to visit places only football can take you to. Places like Newcastle upon Tyne.

A city where they'd been waiting for weeks for this match to see Hansi Flick's team play at home. And to beat them, of course. Barça has become a big-game trophy and must come out firing every day if they don't want to drink oil. At St. James's Park, they were on the ropes in the opening minutes, with a great save from Joan Garcia just as the home side's first goal was being announced. The goalkeeper from Sallent was making his debut in the competition of their dreams, but he seemed like the only calm person in a cauldron of crickets. Barça wasn't feeling comfortable, bitten by an opponent who ran as if the players were possessed by an evil spirit.

Flick had opted for a top-level team. With Araujo and Cubarsí at center-back, Fermín starting, and Lewandowski moving in front of Ferran Torres. On the wings, Raphinha and a Marcus Rashford, who wasn't overly impressed by the magnificent atmosphere because he already knew him. The Englishman was the first to give Barça life. He was warning of what was coming in the second half. Newcastle couldn't play at the same pace all the time, and when they relaxed, Barça took up the pen to write the script for the game, which revolved around Pedri. The German coach spoke a lot with a very active Fermín López.

Barça had already sensed that winning in Newcastle would be difficult. A stadium with an atmosphere like those of yesteryear, one of those that are increasingly difficult to find. A stand where everyone has a relative who was a miner or a worker, where strikes, pollution, and unemployment have been suffered. A tough city of hard-working people who found pride in their team. Of people like Dan Burn, the center-back who was a head taller than the entire Barça team, dishing out a beating. They had to master the game, wait, be patient, and play with a cool head. And so it was. In the second half, Eddie Howe's team came out of the locker room again aggressively, constantly clashing with Joan Garcia. But in the first move Raphinha could make, he gave his all to keep the ball. The cross was finished off by Rashford with an imperial, very static header. Raising the goal and turning his head. If that goal was beautiful, the second was even more so, with a powerful shot from distance that went in just off the bar. It was like an exorcism, as if by striking with such violence he wanted to light a new fire, to forget the years when Manchester United seemed the Titanic and the days on the Aston Villa bench.

Rashford led the way. He ensured that, unlike in the first half, Lamine Yamal's absence wasn't a cause for concern. It was a statement of intent from a very serious team, especially in defense, although in the last minute they made a mistake that tainted Joan Garcia's record, and he couldn't prevent Gordon's goal. But Barça didn't break. They hid the ball and took a victory that was more serious than spectacular. These are the games you have to win if you want to go far in the Champions League.