Nine months ago, Marcus Rashford was brought back into the Manchester United squad by Ruben Amorim for a match against Newcastle. Fast forward to today, and the striker is gearing up to face Newcastle at St James' Park on Thursday night, but this time as part of his new team, Barcelona, in their first Champions League game of the season, highlighting the dramatic shift in his circumstances over a short span of time.
Amorim's decision came at a time when Rashford was being sidelined from the team following a disagreement with the Portuguese head coach. After being excluded from the team due to alleged poor performances in training, Rashford was surprisingly named on the bench to face Eddie Howe's side in United's final game of 2024 - marking his first inclusion in five matchday squads.
Amorim didn't hide the fact that the 27-year-old's involvement was solely due to the high number of injured United players.
This spoke volumes about the player's dire situation at Old Trafford, especially considering he remained on the bench without getting any playing time, just before his loan move to Aston Villa.
Following a brief stint at Villa, Rashford secured a dream season-long loan move to Catalonia in the summer. Since then, he has been trying to find his footing under Hansi Flick, surrounded by world-class talent in a team with a completely new philosophy.
And after registering his first assist in the 6-0 victory over Valencia last weekend, the England international will be eager to return to England to face Newcastle under very different circumstances.
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He will be eager to demonstrate his capabilities to his new head coach and team-mates in what is anticipated to be a typically lively atmosphere in the north east.
Barcelona will be wrestling with the dilemma over whether or not to start Rashford, in the absence of the injured Lamine Yamal.
Howe's squad, who performed admirably two seasons ago in the competition, are up against a formidable challenge as they face last year's Champions League semi-finalists. The Spanish champions have had an unbeaten start to the season, securing victories in three out of their four La Liga matches.
Intriguingly, this match will mark the fifth time the Magpies have encountered the Blaugrana in the competition. Their most recent clash was at St James' Park in the 2002/03 season, when Barcelona triumphed 2-0 in the group stage match with goals from Patrick Kluivert and Thiago Motta.
Shola Ameobi managed to score as the Magpies suffered a 3-1 defeat at Camp Nou earlier that season. However, Newcastle did secure their first ever Champions League victory against Barcelona with a 3-2 win at home in the 1997/98 season, facing off against football greats like Luis Figo and Rivaldo, before enduring a 1-0 defeat away in Catalonia.
Flick's team will proceed from Thursday's group phase opener to face PSG, Olympiacos, Club Brugge, Chelsea, Eintracht Frankfurt, Slavia Praha and Copenhagen. Meanwhile, Newcastle's upcoming fixtures include matches against Union SG, Benfica, Athletic Club, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, PSV Eindhoven and PSG.