Marcus Rashford: “I’ve always been a huge admirer of Barcelona,” says tonight’s hero upon saying that playing for the storied Catalan is an amazing experience. “We want to win as much as possible. The fans want to see the team win and play good football. This isn’t an easy place to play football. The first half was cagey. It’s very difficult to play against this team.
On his excellent second goal: “It was a split second, I felt there was a gap. I thought try to get a shot off. Their player [Tonali] was trying to block it so I tried to lift it. I knew when I caught it it would take the keeper some going to stop it.”
Anthony Gordon: “Really tough game,” he tells TNT. “Top team. I felt we had the better moments but they kept possession. They made it really difficult for us to do our usual press and they controlled the game through that. They did very well at keeping the ball. Pedri and De Jong were fantastic.
“It’s a top level. Rashford scored two goals out of nowhere. It’s got to be the same for us and take the opportunities when they’re presented to us. That’s natural being human beings, 2-0 down to Barca feels like an uphill battle. We got the goal which is testament to our mentality. We were knackered.
“We can be proud of how we played. We gave it our best against one of the top teams in the planet. I didn’t think there was much in the game. We had the better moments but we need to put them away.”
Eddie Howe looks gutted. “Disappointed,” he tells TNT. “I think we were really in the game, I didn’t feel we were ever out of it. I’m disappointed we didn’t score the first goal of the game, I think that was crucial tonight, on reflection and we had the chances to do that in the first half. I thought it was a really wholehearted and gutsy display from us, perhaps lacking that bit of quality to make us win.”
Hansi Flick: “It was a fantastic atmosphere,” says Barcelona’s head coach in an interview with TNT Sports. “We saw how Newcastle were playing with high intensity. It’s what we expected. We had the confidence and believed in our strengths.
“It’s very important to get three points from the beginning of the season. Last year we lost to Monaco. It helps us to get better and better. We always see [this kind of performance from Rashford] in training and we saw it today. I’m happy for him. In the offence we have a lot of good players and he’s one. I’m happy to have him. He gives us more options and it’s great to have him.
“These two goals will help a lot to get Marcus to the next step. It’s so important he has the confidence and feels OK. These goals are unbelievable for him for the next steps.”
Match report: Newcastle United 1-2 Barcelona
Champions League: While Anthony Gordon’s late consolation strike took the bare look off Newcastle’s half of the scoreboard and revitalised the St James’ Park faithful, an excellent brace from Marcus Rashford was enough to win the points for Barcelona. Louise Taylor reports from St James’ Park …
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Tonight’s Champions League results
Club Brugge 4-1 AS Monaco
FC Copenhagen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 Galatasaray
Manchester City 2-0 Napoli*
Newcastle United 1-2 Barcelona
Sporting 4-1 Kairat Almaty
* Kevin De Bruyne didn’t get the return to the Etihad he was hoping for. The Napoli midfielder was substituted after 26 minutes to make way for a defender after Napoli right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off. Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku got the second-half goals that won the match for Manchester City.
Full time: Newcastle United 1-2 Barcelona
Barcelona win at St James’ Park. After an excellent first-half performance, Newcastle were left to rue two missed chances as Barcelona took advantage of their hosts’ inevitable fatigue to take control of the game after an hour. Marcus Rashford scored both their goals, the second an absolute beauty, on his return to a Premier League ground for the first time since going out on loan to Barcelona from Manchester United. Newcastle were nothing if not spirited but ultimately, Barcelona’s superior quality shone through and Anthony Gordon’s late consolation wasn’t enough.
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90+8 min: Newcastle have a throw-in deep in the Barcelona half. Livaramento chucks it long, the ball pinballs towards Tonali and he fires through a crowd, straight at Joan Garcia. And that’s yer lot –Glenn Nyberg blows the final whistle and Barcelona have prevailed.
90+5 min: “I’d be thinking about getting Big Dan Burn up front in a few seconds,” says Ally McCoist on TNT Sports co-comms. It’s what everyone is thinking about, Alistair. For now, Dani Olmo forces Nick Pope into a good save. Even as a Sunderland fan, I would love to see Dan Burn, who seems like one of life’s genuinely good eggs, score a match-saving goal against Barcelona.
90+4 min: Barcelona are in control of the ball, pinging it around the middle third of the pitch. Gordon wins it back only to give it away, only for Livramento to pounce on a loose pass.
90+2 min: We’re into seven minutes of added time. It wasn’t the tidiest finish from Gordon, who seemed to scuff his shot from eight or nine yards into the ground but he got enough power behind his effort to send the ball bobbling past Joan Garcia.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-2 Barcelona (Gordon 90)
Newcastle pull one back! Anthony Gordon scuffs a shot past Garcia after connecting with a Jacob Murphy cross from the right to round off a splendid passing move from Newcastle that I certainly didn’t see coming. I may have written Newcastle’s obituary for this game prematurely!
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89 min: Still, it’s far from the end of the world for Newcastle – your reminder that Paris Saint-Germain lost three and drew one of their opening five games in the league phase before winning the competition.
86 min: Following their excellent first-half performance in which they failed to convert two excellent chances, Newcastle will be disappointed by how the game has unfolded since the interval. Barcelona have grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and that second Rashford strike visibly knocked the stuffing out out of the home side’s players and the massed ranks of Geordies who had been cheering them on with great gusto.
84 min: Dani Olmo slips while trying to ping a crossfield pass to Raphinha but still manages to pick out the Barcelona winger, who controls the dropping ball expertly. He’s forced backwards by Livramento.
83 min: A poor Garcia header gifts possessino to Thiaw, who plays the ball wide to Murphy. He nutmegs Pedri but is unable to get a cross in. Still, he nutmegged Pedri.
81 min: Dani Olmo and Eric Garcia on for Gerard Martin and Marcus Rashford off. Frenkie de Jong gets booked for a foul on Sandro Tonali.
79 min: Anthony Gordon chases a long ball down the right wing but Jules Kounde has his measure and takes it off his toe. The Barcelona right-back has been excellent this evening.
78 min: Dan Burn flicks on a Livramento long throw-in but Barcelona captain Araujo is on hand to head the ball clear.
76 min: Trippier goes down with cramp after making a lungbusting recovery run of about 70 metres in length to successfully put a stop to Rashford’s gallop as he tried to bear down on the Newcastle goal from the left and complete his hat-trick. The Newcastle full-back is replaced by Sven Botman.
74 min: Sorry, he jinked sideways along the edge of Newcastle’s penalty area, not Barcelona’s. His strike wasn’t that good but it was pretty impressive
72 min: That was a sweet, sweet strike from Rashford, who jinked sideways along the edge of the Newcastle Barcelona penalty area to make room for his shot, before spanking a thunderbolt off his instep and into the top corner despite Sandro Tonali’s desperate lunge.
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70 min: Barcelona double-substitution: Ferran Torres and Andreas Christensen on for Cubarsi and Lewandowski.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-2 Barcelona (Rashford 67)
Barcelona double their lead! It’s Rashford again and on this occasion the Barcelona loanee sends a dipping, fizzing, surface-to-air screamer into the top corner off the underside of the crossbar from just outside the Newcastle penalty area. Wow! That was some strike.
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66 min: It makes my blood boil when players are allowed to play on while clearly “not right” after suffering head injuries. Letting them do so seems to a particular blind spot in football. If in any doubt, take them out! Anyway, rant over.
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Newcastle quadruple-substitution: Thiaw, Murphy, Woltemade and Willock come on for Schar, Joelinton, Elanga and Barnes.
61 min: There’s a break in play as Fabian Schar hunkers down looking dazed and confused, clearly still suffering the effects of that shot in the face he shipped from Marcus Rashford a few minutes ago. Get him off immediately and here’s hoping he’s OK …
60 min: He’s had a quiet night thus far but in front of the watching England manager Thomas Tuchel, Marcus Rashford puts his side into the lead. It was a decent header but Schar made it easier than it needed to be by giving him half a yard.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-1 Barcelona (Rashford 58)
Barca lead! Marcus Rashford scores his first goal for Barcelona, nodding past Nick Pope after peeling off Fabian Schar to leap and convert a pacy Jules Kounde cross from the right.
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56 min: A Barnes cross is blocked by Kounde and Livramento sprints to help out his teammate. Barnes wins another corner for his side off the Barca right-back sporting the flowing dreads. There’s been a goal at the Etihad, where Man City are playing a Napoli side that is down to 10 men …
54 min: After good work down the right from Newcastle, the ball is crossed to Sandro Tonali in a good shooting positiuon. He has to dig the ball out from under his feet and can only fire a rising drive straight into the waiting gloves of Joan Garcia.
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52 min: Schar leaves the pitch but will be coming back on and Barcelona take their corner short. Nothing comes of it and the ball finds its way back to the feet of Joan Garcia at the other end of the pitch.
49 min: After good work from Lewandowski and Lopez, Rashford has a shot deflected wide for a corner after smashing the ball into Schar’s face and knocking the Newcastle defender off his feet. The medics come on to make sure he’s OK and you can almost see the cartoon canaries flying and cheeping around his head.
47 min: Harvey Barnes does well to win a corner off Araujo as Newcastle attack the Gallowgate End. Elanga sends in the delivery and Joelinton outjumps Pau Cubarsi but can only steer his header over the bar. His view might have been impaired by the hulking presence of Dan Burn jumping in front of him.
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Second half: Newcastle United 0-0 Barcelona
46 min: We go again and in the interests of fairness, I should probably point out that having just seen a replay of the Gerard Martin foul on Guimaraes that earned the Barcelona left-back a yellow, he was perhaps a bit lucky to escape a red too. I do think Dan Burn’s foul was worse and on TNT Sports, Ally McCoist agrees with me.
Half-time: Newcastle United 0-0 Barcelona
A very entertaining half of football draws to a close with the deadlock resolutely unbroken. There’s no question that Newcastle were the better side, even if their intensity levels dropped in the final 15 minutes.
They might have scored at least two goals, but an air-shot from Anthony Gordon and poor decision-making from Harvey Barnes means the scoreboard operator remains untroubled. Anthony Elanga has been excellent for Newcastle in this first-half and with better finishing from his teammates, would have two, or possibly even three assists to his name.
45+4 min: According to TNT Sports, their reporter near the Barcelona dugout says Hansi Flick thinks Burn should have got a red card for that challenge on Kounde. I have to say I’m inclined to agree with him as my first impression was that it looked nasty, even if there was no real malice. A subsequent view of the replay has done little to change my mind, even if the tackle was clumsy more than anything else. I think Burn might have got lucky but other opinions are almost certainly available. Anyway, it’s half-time.
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45+3 min: Now Burn gets booked for a foul on Kounde, catching the Barcelona right-back’s ankle with his Size 14 as he stretched to tackle him out by the touchline.
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45+2 min: Dan Burn chests down a Newcastle free-kick from deep but Barcelona win the second ball and clear it.
45 min: Gerard Martin is booked for a clumsy, late challenge on Guimaraes. The left-back is now on a yellow card while being given the run-around by Anthony Elanga – that may not end well for the Barca defender.
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43 min: Fermin Lopez gifts possession to Tonali and Newcastle work the ball right at speed to Elanga again. A promising move breaks down due to a Joelinton misstep but Harvey Barnes wins his side another corner. Nothing comes of this particular Elanga inswinger either.
41 min: Newcastle corner. Elanga swings the ball in from the left as Dan Burn positions himself directly in front of Joan Garcia. The goalkeeper is not cowed by Burn’s giant presence and comes off his line to palm the inswinger clear.
39 min: Barcelona free-kick about 30 yards from the Newcastle goal, a little right of centre. Raphinha takes responsibility but sends his effort fizzing over both the defensive wall and the cross-bar.
38 min: Frenkie de Jong slides a low pass towards Rashford in the Newcastle penalty area and the loanee wriggles past Trippier but is unable to get a decent shot away from about 10 yards out. He seemed to hesitate and his eventual effort is blocked.
36 min: Pedri and Jules Kounde get their wires crossed at a throw-in halfway inside their own half, gifting possession to Newcastle in the process. Pedri waves a hand by way of apology in the direction of his teammate following his heavy touch.
34 min: Lewandowski is fouled by Schar and holds up three fingers for the referee’s benefit, to signify the number of fouls he believes Schar has committed and maybe it’s time for the yellow card to come out again. I don’t know if he’s right but nobody likes a grass, Robert.
31 min: As Newcastle were breaking upfield on that most recent counter-attack, Araujo appeared to trip Anthony Gordon but his foul – it is was deliberate rather than an accidental coming-together – went unpunished. If the ref played advantage it was a good decision but I think he just didn’t see the incident.
30 min: Guimaraes sends Elanga on his way again and on this occasion the lively winger’s low cross towards Barnes is cut out by Jules Kounde. Elanga has had Barca left-back Gerard Martin on toast in this opening half-hour.
28 min: Joelinton is booked for a foul on Pedri, getting his name taken for a tug on the Barcelona midfielder’s jersey. He smiles and shrugs his shoulders as the yellow card is brandished in his general direction.
27 min: Correction: I was hallucinating. Barnes’s low shot was saved comfortably by Garcia and did not in fact hit the side-netting. It might as well have – the Newcastle winger probably should have aimed for the far corner.
23 min: Trippier dispossesses Marcus Rashford and pings a pass up the line for Anthony Elanga via – I think – Tonali. He advances upfield at lightning speed and sends a low, beautifully weighted cross into the path of the unmarked Harvey Barnes. The winger tries to score inside the near post and can only hit the side-netting. It was a great counter-attack but the finish was found wanting. Newcastle should have scored.
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22 min: tonali sends a free-kick from well inside the Newcastle half straight and long, trying to pick out Dan “Big Dan Burn” Burn. The towering Newcastle centre-half is beaten on the air on this occasion and can’t get the flick on.
20 min: Newcastle win a free-kick wide on the right when Gordon is bodychecked by Pau Cubarsi as he tried to dart past him. Trippier swings the ball into the box, where Araujo heads clear.
18 min: Nick Pope darts off his line to punch clear a cross that Robert Lewandowski was rather hoping to nod past him and into the Newcastle goal. The contact isn’t clean but it’s enough to avert the danger. Good goalkeeping.
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17 min: Jules Kounde finds himself on the ball near the halfway line with Tino Livramento snapping at his heels like a little terrier. Newcastle’s players aren’t giving their opposition a second’s peace on the ball.
16 min: From that corner Newcastle win another, from which nothing comes. The ball sails into the hands of Joan Garcia in the Barcelona goal.
14 min: Kieran Trippier shifts inside his man and gets the ball on his left foot. He shapes to shoot, then changes his mind inexplicably, electing to scoop the ball towards Harvey Barnes on the left side of the penalty area instead. He wins a corner for Newcastle but Trippier really should have had a pop from a great position.
12 min: There’s a break in play as somebody in a Newcastle shirt receives treatment for a head injury. Who is it? Looks like … eh … ahh … he’s back on his feet. It’s Tino Livramento and he seems to be fine.
11 min: Eddie Howe will be delighted with his team’s performance in these early stages. They’re showing no sign of nerves on their return to the Champions League and certainly aren’t intimidated by the exalted status of their visitors.
10 min: Barcelona make a rare sortie into Newcastle territory and Rashford tries his luck. Wide.
9 min: Barnes advances down the left, plays a give-and-go inside to Tonali and strikes the beautifully weighted return ball goalwards. The build-up was excellent but the shot is weak and Garcia saves comfortably.
8 min: Harvey Barnes bears down on goal and lifts the ball over Garcia only to see it bounce just wide of the far post. The flag goes up and his blushes are spared.
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6 min: Excellent play by Elanga down the right, who beats Gerard Martin and pulls a superb ball back to the onrushing Anthony Gordon. With the goal gaping, he shoots and misses the ball completely. Dearie me.
4 min: Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia puts the ball out for a throw-in under a ferocious Newcastle high press. The visitors are struggling to play it out from the back because Newcastle’s players are hunting them in packs.
3 min: Dan Burn hooks a Kieran Trippier long-throw into the Newcastle penalty area from the right but it’s cleared by Araujo.
2 min: Barcelona skipper Ronaldld Araujo stands firm in the box as Harvey Barnes tries to pass him. The Newcastle winger bounces off the defender and goes to ground, prompting Newcastle’s fans to appeal for a penalty. Their howls fall on deaf ears.
Newcastle United v Barcelona is go ...
1 min: Barcelona get the ball rolling, their players a vision in salmon pink kit. It’s immediately played forward to Marcus Rashford, who wins his header. Fabian Schar is on hand to win the second ball and clear any danger.
Not long now: Led by Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg and his match officials, both sets of players march out into an arena that is stuffed to capacity with febrile Geordies desperate to see their team get the better of their exalted visitors. The tifo is AC/DC themed, the Champions League anthem is anything but and kick-off is just a few minutes away. Will Barcelona be thunderstruck in this hostile environment? We’ll find out in due course …
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An email: “I’m glad you mentioned suspension machine Anthony Gordon, who has me asking the now standard pre-match question: how will he get sent off tonight/this morning (5am kick off, is this really worth getting up for?),” writes Chris Paaraskevas from Down Under.
“I’m quite enjoying that he’s brought a quintessentially ‘continental’ (to use the old Neil Warnock backhanded compliment/barely disguised insult) state of constant readiness to sacrifice his own team’s chances to satiate his emotional whims via late challenges, sucker punches and bad haircuts. But at least he didn’t desert us like the Other Bloke.”
Speaking of Neil Warnock, the legendary manager won’t be tuning into this match as he is performing his one-man show at the London Palladium tonight. Now there’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever type …
Tino Asprilla: Newcastle’s former striker, who scored a hat-trick in their 3-2 win over Barcelona in 1997, has just been interviewed pitchside alongside his former teammates Shay Given and John Beresford on TNT Sports after being flown in from Colombia as a special guest for tonight’s match. I say interviewed but it was Beresford and Given who did most of the talking, as Tino’s English isn’t great.
Nevertheless, he seems to be having a terrific time and was beaming throughout, especially when Given accused him of diving to win the penalty he subsequently scored in that particular game. A game he started, according to Given, only because Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand were unavailable. It seems Tino was in Kenny Dalglish’s bad books because he’d arrived late back from international duty after attending a party in Colombia. Textbook Tino.
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Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Glenn Nyberg
Assistant referees: Mahbod Beigi and Andreas Soderkvist
Fourth official: Adam Ladeback
VAR: Jerome Brisard
Some reader correspondence: “The visitors are legendary for being Mes Que Un Club,” writes Peter Oh. “The home side are desperate to prove that they are Mes Que Un Isak. And I just hope that this match turns out to be Mes Que Un Bore Draw.”
Eddie Howe: “When we were drawn against Barcelona, it had a magical feel to it,” said the Newcastle head coach. “I’m really excited to sample the atmosphere - I think it will be an incredible thing again. We will try to get a positive result and prepare the players for the game. I’m looking forward to how we match up against them and there is a lot of confidence restored after winning on Saturday.”
On Newcastle’s return to the Champions League: “The build-up is different to the Premier League and having done it before, that can help us again,” he said. “The squad is arguably stronger - it has changed from two years ago and I back the quality that we have. The early games are really important because they set the tone and that’s why we are really focusing on our performance to try and deliver a good one.”
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Meanwhile in Manchester: Following a summer departure from Manchester City that he wasn’t massively enthused about, Kevin De Bruyne is back at the Etihad with vengeance – or at the very least a mild sense of disgruntlement – on his mind. Simon Burnton is monitoring the action in the game between City and Napoli …
Newcastle United v Barcelona line-ups
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Joelinton, Guimaraes, Tonali, Elanga, Gordon, Barnes
Substitutes: Thompson, Ramsdale, Hall, Botman, Thiaw, Krafth, Osula, J. Murphy, Woltemade, Willock, A. Murphy, Miley
Barcelona: J Garcia, Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Martin, Pedri, De Jong, Raphinha, Fermin Lopez, Rashford, Lewandowski
Substitutes: Ferran, Christensen, Casado, Olmo, Bernal, Eric, Szczesny, Jofre, Roony, Fernandez, Kochen
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Nick Woltemade on the bench for Newcastle
Despite scoring on his debut against Wolves on Saturday, Newcastle’s gangly new striker has to settle for a place on the bench this evening, with Anthony Gordon preferred. As grand a match and occasion as this is for Newcastle, it could be argued that their upcoming game against Bournemouth, which Gordon can’t play in, is more important, so Howe may have one eye on that. Anthony Elanga also comes into the Newcastle side, with Jacob Murphy making way.
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Newcastle’s league phase opposition: Barcelona (h), Union St Gilloise (a), Benfica (h), Athletic Club (h), Marseille (a), Bayer Leverkusen (a), PSV Eindhoven (h), Paris Saint-Germain (a).
Barcelona’s league phase opposition: Newcastle (a), Paris Saint-Germain (h), Olympiacos (h), Club Brugge (a), Chelsea (a), Eintracht Frankfurt (h), Slavia Prague (a), Copenhagen (h).
Newcastle United: Of a certain age? Want to feel really old? Well, get this – Faustino Asprilla will be among the luminaries in attendance at St James’ Park when Newcastle welcome Barcelona to Tyneside for only the second time since the Colombian striker helped put the Spanish giants to the sword with a hat-trick 28 years and one day ago. Yes, it was that long ago. Words: Louise Taylor.
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Early team news
Yet to make his debut for Newcastle after signing from Brentford towards the end of the transfer window, Yoane Wissa has been ruled out of tonight’s match with injury and is expected to be out for several more weeks. The striker is suffering from a knee injury he suffered on international duty with DR Congo in a match against Senegal.
Midfielder Jacob Ramsey will also be forced to sit tonight’s match out, as he recovers from an ankle injury that forced him out of Newcastle’s scoreless Premier League draw with Leeds at half-time. The signing from Aston Villa is not expected to return to action until after the next international break. Although he is currently serving a domestic suspension, Anthony Gordon is eligible and available for selection tonight, although Eddie Howe was understandably reluctant to say whether the winger and occasional False 9 would start or come off the bench.
In excellent news for either Tino Livramento or Lewis Hall, Lamine Yamal is sidelined with a lower back problem. Ever the diplomat, Howe described the winger’s absence as “a shame”. Reports from Spain suggest the teenager played through the pain for Spain with the help of an injection in their World Cup qualifying win over Turkey, despite having asked to be stood down because he was in too much discomfort. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Alejandro Balde and Gavi are also out, while there are doubts over the fitness of Frenkie De Jong, who has recovered from a groin issue. Marc Casado is expected to deputise if the Dutch midfielder doesn’t start.
Robert Lewandowski is a near certainty to start up front for Barca and will be hoping to add to the nine goals he has scored in his past seven appearances in the league phase of the Champions League. The Polish international scored two in Sunday’s thrashing of Valencia after coming off the bench in the 68th minute.
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Champions League: Newcastle United v Barcelona
Having sneaked into the Champions League on goal difference on the final day of last season, Newcastle get their campaign under way with a match-up that could scarcely be more glamourous. Eddie Howe’s side welcome Barcelona to St James’ Park and while the students of Dundee High School might not be present, the ground will be rocking as Newcastle begin their latest attempt to make the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
They have played Barcelona four times previously, losing on three occasions and winning once. Their most recent match against the five-times European Cup winners was played in March 2003, when Patrick Kluivert and Thiago Motta scored the goals for Barca in a 2-0 win at St James’ Park. Unbeaten so far this season, Hansi Flick’s side come to Tyneside in decent form and on the back of a 6-0 drubbing of Valencia.
Their hosts have had a mediocre start to the season, taking just five points from 12 available in the Premier League thus far. However, they did notch up their first victory in beating Wolves at the weekend, so confidence will be high. Kick-off is at 8pm but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
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