Flick makes Marcus Rashford prediction and sends clear message to Man Utd

Marcus Rashford has made a brilliant start to life at Barcelona and manager Hansi Flick sang his praises after he scored twice in a 6-1 thumping of Olympiakos on Tuesday

Marcus Rashford will continue to go from strength to strength and become even more important for Barcelona, according to manager Hansi Flick.

Rashford took his output to five goals and five assists in 12 appearances for Barca with a brace in their 6-1 thrashing of 10-man Olympiakos on Tuesday night. He finished twice into the near post to wrongfoot goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis to ensure three points in the Champions League for his new club.

The Manchester United loanee was fielded as the centre-forward by Flick, who was without the injured Robert Lewandowski and left Ferran Torres on the bench. Rashford looked the part and has now either scored or assisted in eight of his last nine appearances for Barca.

He is only on loan until the end of the season, but has not tried to hide his happiness at being in Catalonia or at his desire to stay in the long term. Barca have the option to make his move permanent for around €30million (£26m) and Flick’s post-match comments hinted they might just do so.

“For me, Rashford is performing very well and is an important player for the team. He won a penalty, which I thought was a penalty, and scored two goals,” Flick said. “He’s very fast, combines very well, and as he gains confidence, he will become more important.”

Rashford has generally played off the left wing in recent years, but took the central role on Tuesday night, with Lamine Yamal on the right, Fermin Lopez in the No.10 position and youngster Dro Fernandez on the left wing. Yamal converted the penalty won by Rashford, while Lopez netted a hat-trick.

“Rashford played well today," Flick added. “It's not easy for him to play that number nine role. The first minutes of the match I guess we were struggling to press, but at the end the chances he had and the penalty he won...

"The important thing is that he scored goals. He's giving me 100 per cent of what I want from him."

Rashford clearly feels the same, posting snaps from the game on Instagram with the caption: “Amazing night at home. What a TEAM! ! Visca Barca."

Barcelona sit second in La Liga, two points behind rivals Real Madrid, while they are ninth in the early Champions League table, with two wins and one defeat. They face Real in El Clasico on Sunday at the Bernabeu in a major test of their form.

Asked about their previous results against Real, Flick said: “That’s in the past. We’re in a different situation now, but I’m optimistic. I think we can win in Madrid. We have a great team, we’ll have two or more players back, and we have time to rest and prepare for the game.”