Marcus Rashford netted his first goal for Barcelona as the Spanish champions concluded their pre-season tour of the Far East with a resounding 5-0 win over Daegu.
The England international was one of 11 players introduced by Hansi Flick at half-time and made another positive impression with a lively display capped by his 65th minute goal as Barca cruised in South Korea.
Gavi scored twice for the first-half side with Robert Lewandowski also on target.
The second-half XI were equally dominant, scoring through Toni Fernández and Rashford, although they lacked the wizadry of Lamime Yamal, who shone in the opening 45 minutes.
Yamal creates Gavi’s first
It was the 18-year-old who created the opener for Gavi after 21 minutes, bamboozling his marker before slipping the ball infield for Gavi, who took one touch before firing left-footed past home goalkeeper Oh Seung-hoon.
Lewandowski made it 2-0 six minutes later, slotting in at the far post after another slick move ended with Gerard Martin escaping down the left and whipping in a pin-point cross for the veteran Pole to convert.
Barca looked a cut above their hosts and could’ve opened the scoring after five minutes – Yamal playing in Lewandowski only for his effort to be smuggled clear.
Yamal came close three minutes later, beating several players with a brilliant run which ended with a prodded shot that drifted over.
Despite having little possession, Daegu almost opened the scoring after 20 minutes with Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia making a hash of a routine cross only for Cesinha to fire over the bar with the goal gaping.
It was to prove a costly miss as Barca scored twice and then added a third before the break. Jules Kounde played in a lovely pass down the right channel and Gavi did the rest with a clever chip over the advancing goalkeeper.
Rashford makes his mark
The raft of changes at the break did little to stem the flow and Barca notched their fourth within nine minutes of the restart, another wonderful move ending with Dani Olmo slipping the ball through for young forward Fernández and he finished coolly.
Fernandez was interchanging with Rashford and the on-loan Manchester United man got his goal with a fine finish. Eric Garcia was the creator with a low cross from the right and Rashford perfectly executed a crisp right-footed shot to make it 5-0.
Rashford almost scored again shortly afterwards but his long-range effort was saved by Daegu’s substitute goalkeeper Han Tae-hui.
A perfect evening for Barca was clouded slightly by a late injury to central defender Pau Cubarsi that prevented him from completing the game.
Barca now return to Europe to face Como in the Joan Gamper Trophy on Sunday before opening the defence of their La Liga crown against Real Mallorca the following weekend.
