When José Mourinho arrived on Tyneside and immediately showered Eddie Howe and his players with lavish praise, Newcastle fans feared the worst. Yet in lauding the terrifying pace of Howe’s wingers, not to mention his team’s aggression and organisation, Benfica’s manager was perhaps not being disingenuous after all. By the end his insistence that Newcastle’s modest Premier League position is false certainly rang true.
At the final whistle no one doubted Mourinho’s sincerity as he strode up to Anthony Gordon and informed the England left-winger that he had been “absolutely brilliant”.
Although it took a while for the home side to subdue more than decent opponents – and Benfica’s Belgium right-winger Dodi Lukébakio in particular – a fine goal from Gordon and two more from Harvey Barnes, on as a substitute, left the Portuguese visitors without a point in the Champions League.
Mourinho has barely been in charge in Lisbon for a month but, after this, Benfica’s hopes of reaching the knockout out stages appear almost in tatters. His problem was that, after a compelling, delicately poised opening hour featuring some important saves from Newcastle’s impressive goalkeeper, Nick Pope, Howe’s substitutes altered the power balance. The Portuguese’s attempts to overturn a 1-0 deficit backfired.
“I’m really pleased,” Howe said. “Benfica are a very good team so we had to show our quality. It wasn’t an easy game for sure. We were patient and kept at it. After our second goal you saw the real us and the threat we can be. We haven’t quite clicked into gear this season but hopefully this is the start of getting where we want to be.”
Mourinho stressed that his team had played their part in an engrossing evening. “I think St James’ Park is beautiful but it was quiet tonight,” he said. “The crowd felt the game wasn’t easy and that Benfica were more likely to score. Newcastle are a team of giants but we felt very comfortable in the first half. Then the second goal killed the game and it was easy for them.”
The two managers had exchanged a slightly perfunctory, rather cool, embrace before kick-off and it quickly became clear that Mourinho had instructed his side to subdue St James’ Park by slowing Newcastle down, disrupting their passing rhythm and generally lowering the temperature at every opportunity.
Despite even Gordon’s best efforts, a Newcastle side lacking the benched Sandro Tonali and Joelinton in midfield struggled initially to create much more than half chances.
Lukébakio very nearly showed his hosts how to finish when, having deposited Dan Burn on his backside, he tested Pope with a tremendous shot that was met with an equally terrific one-handed save. No wonder Howe’s goalkeeper retains hope of an England recall in time for next summer’s World Cup.
Yet when Lukébakio struck another shot against a post, Newcastle began really raising their game and Anatoliy Trubin made an impressive close‑range save from Bruno Guimarães before Gordon broke the deadlock. The England winger’s scorching pace had caused Mourinho’s technical area consternation all night and now he side‑footed that opener beyond Trubin after Jacob Murphy’s ability to deliver an early ball into the box had once again paid dividends.
When, for once, Newcastle’s high press was not read by Benfica, Murphy, passed low across the face of goal for Gordon to polish of and become the first Newcastle player to score in three straight Champions League games.
It proved the cue for Mourinho’s always front-footed team to attack with real abandon and the first half ended with Pope once again rescuing his side after tipping Lukébakio’s left‑foot shot around a post.
At this stage it still seemed anybody’s game. If Gordon, morale evidently buoyed by scoring his fourth goal in three Champions League appearances this season, played with the zeal of a winger determined to eclipse all rivals, Lukébakio emphasised that, while Burn is a fine central defender, he is not a natural left-back.
Howe’s solution was to introduce Barnes and Joelinton as Mourinho threw on an extra striker in Franjo Ivanovic. It proved to be Benfica’s undoing.
Until then the visitors, and their defender Antonio Silva especially, had done a decent job in restricting Nick Woltemade’s room for manoeuvre and forcing Newcastle’s Germany centre-forward deep. Now, though, the right-back Amar Dedic was off, the defence underpowered and the path clear for Barnes to prove that Gordon is not Howe’s only goalscoring winger.
His introduction was already paying off by the time Pope dispatched a mighty, near 70-yard throw in Barnes’s direction. When Silva misread the bounce, Barnes was away accelerating into the area before maintaining commendable poise to lash a sublime shot beyond Trubin.
Once Barnes rolled a shot through poor Trubin’s legs after meeting Gordon’s stellar pass, it was all over. The warning from Mourinho, by now slumped back in his seat, about Newcastle’s “very fast, very dangerous wingers” had not been empty.
