Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at Marcus Rashford, Bryan Mbeumo, and Euro 2025.
It’s that time of year when many English people jet off to Spain for sun, sand and sangria.
Marcus Rashford has done the same, though in fairness to the Manchester United forward his trip is more related to work than pleasure as he finalises a loan move to Barcelona. In this week’s SVQ we’ll be looking at what the England international could potentially bring to the La Liga giants and why his arrival could lead to a significant first in El Clásico.
Following a Manchester United theme, we’ll also analyse Bryan Mbeumo, or more particularly, what Brentford will be missing after the dynamic duo of he and Yoane Wissa is broken up.
We’ll be quizzing you on penalties, while this week’s Ask Opta question also queries records from the spot, namely in the Women’s European Championship.
If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe below for free to receive SVQ every Tuesday.
Country* Select A Country Canada United States of America United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory United States Minor Outlying Islands Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cabo Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo (Democratic Republic of the) Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran (Islamic Republic of) Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of) Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia (Federated States of) Moldova (Republic of) Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of) Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Kosovo Réunion Romania Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Korea (Republic of) South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suricontent Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United States of America Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Viet Nam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Email* I agree to receive emails from Opta Analyst. See our Privacy Policy for more details.STAT – Marcus Rashford: The Next Gary Lineker?
It was a bit strange to see Marcus Rashford in an Aston Villa kit last season. The 27-year-old felt at one time as though he would be a Man Utd lifer, having come through the academy and starred at Old Trafford since Louis van Gaal gave him his debut back in 2016.
However, after falling out of favour with Ruben Amorim last season, Rashford moved to Villa Park on loan to ensure he could get some minutes, and his form in the Midlands earned him a place in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad in March.
With a World Cup next summer, it’s important that he plays more regularly in 2025-26, and though Villa chose not to keep Rashford despite four goals and five assists in 17 games, an unlikely suitor has seemingly offered him an opportunity.
A deal for Barcelona to take Rashford on loan with an option to buy next summer is reportedly close, which would see him become the first Englishman to play for the Catalan club since Gary Lineker, who scored 42 goals in 103 La Liga appearances for Barça.
In fact, next season could see the first ever El Clásico where both Barcelona and Real Madrid have an English player in their lineups. Rashford could come head-to-head with England teammates Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold. The match-up against Alexander-Arnold would carry particular intrigue given the deep rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool.
This could also mean it is the last we’ll have seen of Rashford in a United kit. He has made 426 appearances for the Red Devils in all competitions since that debut over nine years ago, scoring 138 goals and providing 60 assists.
Whether he gets the game time he needs is up for debate, though. Can he force his way into Hansi Flick’s team past the phenomenal trio of Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski, who got 140 goal involvements between them last season?
He’ll back himself to do so, but could do with showing the sort of form that saw him score 30 goals in 56 games in 2022-23, only one of which was a penalty.
VIZ – Bye-Bye Brentford Bromance
Batman and Robin, Bonnie and Clyde, Bert and Ernie; who doesn’t love an iconic duo?
Football is littered with them too, and last season, Brentford were treated to a link-up so impressive, it often made the Bees one of the better teams to watch in the Premier League.
Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa showed the sort of understanding in 2024-25 that often made it feel as though they were the only two players on the pitch, helping to fire Brentford to a top-half finish.
However, with Manchester United prising Mbeumo from the Gtech Community Stadium, that partnership is sadly no more.
Mbeumo and Wissa created 29 chances for one another in the Premier League last season, with the Cameroon international creating 20 of those (Wissa 9).
Only Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke (35) and Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah (33) created more for one another in England’s top flight last season.
Mbeumo and Wissa combined for six assists for one another in the league, with only Aston Villa pair Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins (7) and Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak (7) combining for more.
When looking at overall Premier League records, only six pairings have both found the net in the same game more often than Mbeumo and Wissa (19 games), with the most potent partnership being Harry Kane and Son Heung-min at Spurs (37 games).
While it will be exciting to see what Mbeumo can do at Old Trafford, it is a shame that he and Wissa will no longer be able to terrorise Premier League defences together.
The obvious solution seems to be that Man Utd should simply sign Wissa as well, though as we can already sense the glare of Brentford fans, we won’t make that suggestion ourselves.
QUIZ – Penalty Prowess
For this week’s quiz, we’re going to test your Premier League penalty knowledge. Answers at the bottom of the page.
1. Which player has scored the most penalties in Premier League history?
2. Which two players have the joint record for the most penalties missed in Premier League history?
3. Which team has been awarded the most penalties in a single Premier League season?
4. Which two teams jointly hold the record for the most penalties scored in a single Premier League campaign (11)?
5. Who became the first player to score three penalties in a single game in Premier League history last season?
Ask Opta
This week’s question comes from Sarah M, who asks: “A lot has been said about penalty misses at the Women’s Euros but are more being missed than usual?”
Do you have a stat-based question you’d like Opta to answer in a future edition of SVQ? Email us at editors@theanalyst.com or message us on X @OptaAnalyst with #AskOpta and we’ll pick the best one.
Answer:
It seemed much of the talk around penalties at Euro 2025 came after England’s quarter-final shootout win over Sweden on Thursday, where only five of the 14 spot-kicks taken were scored, with three missing the target and six being saved.
It felt somewhat harsh to see the quality of the penalties being so heavily criticised when six excellent saves were also made by goalkeepers Hannah Hampton and Jennifer Falk, though it was nonetheless surprising to see so many not find the net.
The narrative wasn’t helped when Spain missed two more penalties in normal time in their 2-0 win over Switzerland a day later. After Alexia Putellas missed Spain’s second spot-kick of the night, it meant only one of the previous seven penalties taken at Euro 2025 had been scored, which was from Lucy Bronze in England’s shootout victory against Sweden.
At that point, fewer than half the penalties taken at the tournament (including shootouts) had been scored (12/25 – 48%). Looking back at Women’s World Cups and Euros since 2011, the next lowest conversion rate for penalties in a major tournament was 60.9% at Euro 2013 (14/23).
However, Euro 2025’s conversion rate was boosted on Saturday in the last of the quarter-finals in Switzerland, despite Germany missing a penalty in the second half. Grace Geyoro had scored one for France earlier in the night, while 11 of the 14 penalties taken in the shootout, won by the Germans, also found the net, bringing the tournament’s spot-kick success rate up to 58.5% (24/41). It’s still lower than in 2013, but barely.
What Are We Up to at Opta Analyst?
Here’s some of our latest data-driven offerings:
Related Posts
Premier LeagueHugo’s Boss: Why Liverpool and Ekitiké Can Take Each Other to the Next Level
1 day ago Matt Furniss FootballWhich European Leagues and Clubs Put Most Faith in Young Players?
1 day ago Ryan Benson FootballHow Scandinavia Became the Centre-Forward Capital of Men’s Football
3 days ago Ryan BensonQuiz Answers
1. Who has scored the most penalties in Premier League history?
Alan Shearer (56)
2. Which two players have the joint record for the most penalties missed in Premier League history?
Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney (both 11)
3. Which team has been awarded the most penalties in a single Premier League season?
Manchester United (14 in 2019-20)
4. Which two teams jointly hold the record for the most penalties scored in a single Premier League campaign (11)?
Crystal Palace (2004-05) and Chelsea (2009-10 and 2023-24)
5. Who became the first player to score three penalties in a single game in Premier League history last season?
Justin Kluivert (for Bournemouth vs Wolves)
Before You Go…
Enjoying Stat, Viz, Quiz? Think it needs improvement? Send us your feedback to editorial@theanalyst.com.
Will Marcus Rashford Boost Barcelona? Opta Analyst.
Hence then, the article about will marcus rashford boost barcelona was published today ( ) and is available on The Analyst ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Will Marcus Rashford Boost Barcelona? )
Also on site :