Flick says Barcelona culture bringing best out of Rashford
Hansi Flick believes Marcus Rashford has benefitted from a culture change as the forward returns to the Barcelona squad for its Champions League clash against Chelsea.
Rashford missed Barca's return to Camp Nou on Sunday due to illness, but is set to feature against the Blues at Stamford Bridge.
He has been directly involved in five goals in four Champions League games for Barcelona this season (four goals, one assist), including a brace on his previous trip to England against Newcastle United.
The only player with more than five goal involvements through their first five appearances for the Catalans in the competition is Hristo Stoichkov (eight – five goals, three assists in 1994).
The England international has impressed Flick throughout his career, and the coach thinks the change in scenery has helped the forward.
"I'm really very happy," Flick said.
"We will decide tomorrow if he plays from the beginning or if he comes in from the bench. But as I said, I'm happy to have him in our team.
"Last time when we played Newcastle, I also said this. I have followed him, I think, his whole career. I was impressed about him, with his quality, what he is doing in the box, what he is doing in front of goal.
"He has also showed it in Barcelona, which is really good. But for him, this change to live in another culture. The people in Barcelona are fantastic, we have nice weather. For me, it's amazing.
"You can see now he is also smiling a lot, and if he can enjoy the atmosphere we have, it is also good for him."
Barcelona has scored in each of its last 24 games in the Champions League (67 goals in total); the longest run by any current team.
Flick has also never seen an opponent keep a clean sheet against one of his teams in the competition.
Since 2013-2014, Barcelona has only lost two of its nine away games against English sides in the Champions League (W6 D1). Those two defeats came against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in 2016 and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in 2019.
