Barcelona Announce Preseason Tour U-Turn, Potential Marcus Rashford Debut Revealed

Barcelona have confirmed the dates for their first three preseason fixtures after a speedy resolution.

Marcus Rashford’s first appearance for Barcelona could come sooner than first thought. | IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

Barcelona have confirmed that all issues have been “resolved” regarding their first preseason friendly of the summer in Japan.

Just two days earlier, the reigning La Liga champions revealed that their scheduled friendly against Vissel Kobe had been canceled “due to serious contractual breaches on behalf of the promotor”. Barcelona threatened to bring forward their trip to South Korea, with the club’s vice president Rafa Yuste fuming: “We are not going to Japan because they have not respected the club.”

A resolution, however, has now been found.

On Friday morning, the club released an official statement confirming: “FC Barcelona announces that the first team’s soccer expedition is already traveling to Japan to begin the 2025 Asian tour.

Hansi Flick and the rest of Barcelona’s squad began pre-season training on July, 13. | IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

“This development comes after the Club and the promoter resolved all the issues that two days ago forced FC Barcelona to cancel its participation in the match against Vissel Kobe, which is now back on the schedule (July 27). After completing this first leg of the tour, the Barcelona expedition will travel to South Korea, where it has two more matches scheduled against FC Seoul (July 31) and Daegu FC (Aug. 4).”

Sunday’s clash with Vissel Kobe could prove to be the scene of Marcus Rashford’s first appearance for Barcelona. The England international sealed a season-long loan on Wednesday, mere hours before this twisting dispute with the club’s tour organizers emerged.

Four days later, Barcelona are—at the time of writing—scheduled to face FC Seoul in South Korea’s capital, which will serve up an expected reunion for Rashford. Seoul’s captain just so happens to be Jesse Lingard, a close friend of his fellow Manchester United academy graduate. The pair have played 152 games alongside each other and it was Lingard who teed up Rashford on his goalscoring Premier League debut back in February 2016.

The duo have only lined up on opposite sides once before; Rashford scored the opening goal in a 3–0 win for Manchester United against Lingard’s Nottingham Forest in December 2022.

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