{"id":45932,"date":"2026-03-28T10:25:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T04:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=45932"},"modified":"2026-03-28T10:25:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T04:55:40","slug":"raphinha-ruled-out-for-ucl-quarter-finals-can-rashford-step-up-for-barcelona-vs-atletico-in-ucl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/champions-league\/raphinha-ruled-out-for-ucl-quarter-finals-can-rashford-step-up-for-barcelona-vs-atletico-in-ucl\/","title":{"rendered":"Raphinha ruled out for UCL quarter-finals: Can Rashford step up for Barcelona vs Atletico in UCL?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona have suffered a major blow ahead of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid. Star winger <strong>Raphinha is ruled out<\/strong> for five weeks with a right <strong>hamstring injury<\/strong>. He picked up the problem during Brazil\u2019s 2-1 friendly defeat against France and was substituted at half-time. Tests confirmed the damage, and he will miss both legs of the tie first leg at Spotify Camp Nou on April 8 and the return at the Metropolitano on April 14 plus several La Liga games.<\/p>\n<p>This creates a key gap on the right flank. <strong>Marcus Rashford<\/strong>, the 28-year-old on loan from Manchester United, is set to step up. In the UCL this season, Rashford has scored 5 goals and provided 3 assists in 9 appearances. Overall for Barcelona, he has contributed <strong>10 goal<\/strong>s and <strong>13 assists<\/strong> in 39 matches across all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>Rashford offers versatility in Hansi Flick\u2019s system. He can play on either wing or centrally, using his pace and direct running to stretch defences. His Premier League big-game experience is a plus, and the Champions League stage often brings out his best. However, his recent La Liga minutes have been inconsistent, raising slight concerns over sharpness. Flick has backed him publicly.<\/p>\n<p>Atletico\u2019s organised defence under Diego Simeone will pose a tough test. If Rashford links well with Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal, Barcelona\u2019s attack can stay dangerous and push for the semi-finals. Without Raphinha, Rashford now has a big chance to shine and make the tie even more intriguing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona have suffered a major blow ahead of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid. Star winger Raphinha is\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":45935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4652],"tags":[661,3962,1139,3356,4057],"class_list":["post-45932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-champions-league","tag-barcelona","tag-hamstring-injury","tag-marcus-rashford","tag-raphinha","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45934,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45932\/revisions\/45934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}