A little over 24 hours before kick-off, Hansi Flick spoke about how lucky he felt to have acquired Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United.
Barcelona’s manager was not remotely bothered that the forward’s stock had fallen so far at Old Trafford. Rashford, he said, was a player he had long admired and could help improve.
In the 82nd minute, Rashford walked off wreathed in smiles before being wrapped in Flick’s heartfelt embrace. Ruben Amorim’s bete noire had just scored two splendid goals that not merely rendered Eddie Howe’s rather effective gameplan academic but silenced St James’ Park.
With Faustino Asprilla – the scorer of a famous hat-trick for Newcastle as Barcelona succumbed 3-2 on Tyneside in 1997 – having flown in from Colombia to help cheer on his old team, it was not supposed to be like this. Not even Anthony Gordon’s 90th-minute consolation could upstage Rashford as Flick’s players expertly managed seven minutes of stoppage time.
Until then it was no night for slow coaches. Not with so many explosions of pace all over the pitch and on the respective right wings in particular. If Raphinha’s rapid acceleration down that flank for Barcelona sometimes stretched Tino Livramento to the limit, the sprinting powers of Newcastle’s Anthony Elanga often seemed utterly irresistible.
From one such advance Elanga scorched past Gerard Martín before crossing for Gordon but Newcastle’s out-of-position centre-forward failed to make contact. Might Nick Woltemade have done better? Quite possibly, but Newcastle’s £70m Germany striker began on the bench after Howe sensibly decided three games in a week might be beyond the 6ft 6in new boy at this stage.
Nonetheless, Newcastle’s manager could certainly have done with Woltemade’s sureness of touch as Harvey Barnes dinked the ball over Joan García only to direct it wide of a post. On that occasion Barnes’s blushes were spared by a linesman’s offside flag but he would later be denied by the goalkeeper when clean through on the counterattack.
Yet, if their finishing was found wanting, Newcastle initially pressed so hard and high they refused to allow the La Liga champions to assert any sustained midfield control.
The danger was that if Newcastle even momentarily lost concentration, Raphinha or Rashford would race away from them. Rashford looked razor sharp and had home hearts in mouths after tricking Kieran Trippier before leaving the former England full-back trailing in his wake. He ultimately shot wide but Howe knew it represented a reprieve.
With Flick’s brightest talent, Lamine Yamal, back in Barcelona nursing his injured groin, opportunity beckoned for a Newcastle side cleverly mixing long balls with slick, short passing. Yet as well as they did to keep the match evenly balanced, García was hardly troubled.
Although Sandro Tonali, once again tremendous in midfield, prompted a series of promising moves and cross after cross flew into Barcelona’s box, the lack of specialist striker ensured they came to nothing.
Tonali’s presence as a disruptor also dictated that Nick Pope remained generally well protected as Barcelona struggled to join their attacking dots and a frustrated Robert Lewandowski implored the referee to book his assiduous minder, Fabian Schär.
Yet by the 45th minute, Dan Burn collected a yellow card after catching Jules Koundé’s ankle – a red card offence according to Flick – and Barcelona’s patience had begun to pay off. In refusing to be drawn into a physical battle, the visitors increasingly managed the game well.
With Newcastle finally starting to tire, Barcelona’s patience was reflected by some incisive passing sequences. The scene was set for Rashford to jog a few memories by connecting with the excellent Koundé’s left-footed cross and flashing an unstoppable glancing header past Pope. A perfect fusion of power and accuracy, it was his first goal for Barcelona and arrived after he cleverly manoeuvred himself clear of Schär.
It served as the signal for Howe to finally introduce Woltemade as part of a quadruple substitution but, before the newcomers could make a difference, Rashford struck again.
If his opener was good, his second was sublime. Having dodged Tonali, he unleashed a 20-yard shot that pinged the crossbar en route to the back of the net. Rashford always tended to do well against Newcastle for Manchester United and it seems switching shirts has not lessened that appetite.
Although Gordon finally proved he can score after all by sliding home Murphy’s cross at the far post, the first Englishman to score for Barcelona since Gary Lineker had already done enough.
