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Barcelona news: ‘Special’ prediction made about Chelsea-linked Malcom after Inter goal
BARCELONA youngster Malcom can use his goal away at Inter Milan to kickstart his career with the Catalan club.
Malcom scores INCREDIBLE goal for Barcelona
That’s the belief of BT Sport pundit Owen Hargreaves.
The Brazilian has endured a frustrated and injury-stricken start to his career with the La Liga giants - appearing for just 105 minutes - since snubbing Roma for Barcelona in a £36.5million deal in July.
But the 21-year-old was handed his first Champions League outing for the club at the San Siro, scoring just two minutes after coming on for Ousmane Dembele.
Mauro Icardi’s late equaliser denied Barca a win in Italy but a draw was enough to seal their progression to the knockout stages with two games to spare.
The Spanish champions are one of the favourites to win the competition despite falling at the quarter-final stage in all of the last three years, watching rivals Real Madrid be victorious every season since 2014-15.
Hargreaves agrees that Ernesto Valverde’s side are among the best teams in the tournament and insists the Blaugrana are fully worthy of their billing because the quality of their squad.
“Barca are definitely one of the favourites. They’re able to find a way,” ex-Manchester United and Bayern Munich midfielder Hargreaves said on BT Sport’s Champions League highlights show.
“There’s so many world class players in this side, [Philippe] Coutinho is special.
One-v-one he’s virtually unstoppable
“Even Malcom, that’s only his fourth appearance of the season.
“Such an important goal, scores virtually straight after coming on.
“This guy is a really special player, one-v-one he’s virtually unstoppable.
“That was a really big goal for his Barca career.”
Malcolm declared himself his intention to use his first goal as a springboard having recently been linked with a move to Chelsea.
It has been claimed that Barca could even look to take Willian the other way having shown interest in the Brazilian in the summer before signing Malcom.
The former Bordeaux attacker said to Mundo Deportivo: “Barcelona was a dream I had as a child.
“To debut in the Champions League and score a goal, I will celebrate with the family. My dream at Barca is starting, my dream is to make history and do great things.
“I have to thank the group for giving me confidence. I want to play more. Every day I train to be able to show that I have the quality to be in this group.”
With Barca’s place in the last-16 now guaranteed, Malcom will hope to feature when they face PSV at the Nou Camp later this month.