In the end Marcus Rashford did get to make his competitive debut for Barcelona as they began their defence of the La Liga title. Formally registered a little after 10.30 on Saturday morning, Barcelona’s economic obstacles overcome, he was introduced just after 9pm with 22 minutes left of a sticky and ultimately successful night in Mallorca. By the time he pulled on his shirt and stepped up the line, one of three subs brought on, the temperature had dropped a little, if still not enough, the game was already won, he was up against just nine men, and he got 10 touches. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
Earlier than expected, too: Rashford had insisted he was confident but the doubts over him being registered were not resolved until the morning of the match. And so, on 68 minutes, there he was waiting to come on.
Playing through the middle with Barcelona already 2-0 up and drifting through a second half that Hansi Flick said he didn’t like at all, Rashford produced a couple of neat layoffs, a handful of passes and had two fleeting glimpses of goal. In one, he was a little slow to react, in the other the ball was caught under his feet as he trued to cut back inside. He did though get a close-up glimpse of another moment of magic from Lamine Yamal, who provided the final touch with that Lamine Yamal goal. That’s some teammate he has there.
A video from training had done the rounds last week in which Lamine Yamal had responded to another bamboozled opponent by declaring: “I’m unstoppable,” and he didn’t waste time lending weight to that claim. His season was just two minutes in, when he twisted, turned, stopped started and escaped into the area, a warning to Johan Mojica and Mallorca – if they needed it – that this wasn’t going to be an easy evening. Just five minutes later, he slipped the knife in, clipping in what appeared an easy, almost lazy ball to the far post. There, all alone and from close range, Raphinha headed Barcelona into the lead.
There was a kind of stillness about the place, like someone had pressed pause: if had been too simple, the space the Brazilian had too big for it to be real. But, while the referee did pause to check for offside, it was.
Mallorca did react, Vedat Muriqi laying off inside the Barcelona area when he might have taken the shot himself. Mojica was making progress up the left in those moments when he was released from watching Lamine Yamal, his low deliveries the source of the most danger. There was an attempted overhead kick from Takuma Asano and an opportunity for Muriqi, which he struck straight at Joan García in Barça’s goal.
And then Barcelona scored a second. Again, there was something strange about it – more so than the first time. Lamine Yamal had come inside and hit a shot that Antonio Raíllo had blocked with his head. The centre-back collapsed to the floor, his head in his hands, his face on the turf, and the ball looped up. When it came down again, Lamine Yamal just about controlled. Ferran Torres took the ball, stumbled past a couple of chances and smashed a superb shot into the top corner.
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Roundup: Kane and Díaz score in Bayern’s Super Cup win
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Bayern Munich eased past VfB Stuttgart 2-1 thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Luis Díaz to lift the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup. The Bavarians were sharper throughout and their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was in fine form less than a week before the Bundesliga season starts.
With all eyes on the Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade, whom Bayern are keen to sign, Kane, last season’s Bundesliga top scorer, pounced on a defensive error by Luca Jaquez to give the champions an 18th-minute lead.
The German Cup winners went in search of a quick equaliser and Woltemade went close, only for his point-blank shot to be saved by Neuer. The 39-year-old keeper again came to the rescue in the 75th when he showed good reflexes to palm a deflected shot wide.
Díaz, a summer signing from Liverpool, scored with his first effort on goal, heading in a Serge Gnabry cross 13 minutes from time. The Colombia international striker marked his competitive debut goal with a tribute to Diogo Jota, copying the late Liverpool forward’s video game celebration (pictured). Stuttgart grabbed a stoppage-time consolation through Jamie Leweling’s close-range header.
Eric Dier scored on his competitive debut for Monaco, who kicked off their Ligue 1 campaign with a comfortable 3-1 home win over Le Havre.
An own goal by the Le Havre defender Gautier Lloris put Monaco ahead in the 32nd minute. Dier doubled the hosts’ lead shortly after the hour mark, finding the target off Lamine Camara’s cross.
Le Havre, who finished one point above the relegation playoff spot last season, struck back six minutes later with Rassoul Ndiaye cutting in from the left and finding the net near the far post with a low right-footed shot.
The visitors pushed for an equaliser but paid the price for their high defensive line when Denis Zakaria ran up the empty space into the Le Havre box and crossed to Maghnes Akliouche for a close-range finish.
Lyon also got their campaign off to a winning start when Georges Mikautadze scored in added time before the break to give them a 1-0 win at Lens. Reuters
Six seconds had passed, Raíllo was still down, and while no one had stopped exactly, or not physically, perhaps mentally they had, as if waiting for a whistle that never came. The shot flew past Raíllo who was still on the ground and Leo Román didn’t dive – although that might have been as much about the possibility of getting there anyway. Pedri slapped palms with Torres but there was a kind of shrug from the scorer, as if everyone assumed this wouldn’t count. It did.
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Mallorca were incensed, and soon their inferiority was irredeemable. Two goals down, they were quickly two men down. An outrageous turn and run from Lamine Yamal began on the halfway line and, beyond Mojica and Sergi Darder, ended on the edge of the Mallorca area, where Manu Morlanes clipped him. Morlanes was shown a second yellow. That was on half an hour; within nine minutes, another man walked. Muriqi was originally shown a yellow card for his challenge on García but, freeze-framed, it looked worse on the video assistant referee screen: a set of studs in the keeper’s face led to the yellow being upgraded to a red.
This was done bar the shouting – and there was a lot of that, of course. Hands were up because this, the fans claimed, was a robbery. Lamine Yamal wanted his goal, twice sending shots just wide before the break and then bending one over at the start of the second half. Flick though was not happy with what he saw in that second half, and Lamine Yamal would have to wait until the final minute.
There had been chances for others too, even if Mallorca resisted pretty well two men down. Raphinha shot wide, Dani Olmo hit a post, Ronald Araújo volleyed wide. Leo Román made a superb save from Olmo and another from Eric García. Rashford joined in but didn’t get the chance to test the keeper, a swift one-two with Pedri earning him a raised thumb but not a shot on goal. And then, as the clock went past 90, when he was looking for space to shoot he appeared to tread on the ball, leaving time for just one more moment, and that belonged to Lamine Yamal.
