It was a night when the Tyneside passions pulsed; the nervous energy, too, because this was something unprecedented – a first Champions League knockout tie in Newcastle’s history. It was not just the gilded level of the opposition that fired the excitement, the imagination. Eddie Howe was in little doubt that it was the biggest game Newcastle had ever played.
Newcastle had to do more than subdue Barcelona, the top team in Spain last season and so far this time out. They had to manage the occasion because it was one that came to rest on the edge of a knife. As the minutes ticked down, the chances so scarce, they knew that one moment was always likely to be decisive. At either end.
When they made it happen towards the end of regulation time, it was the prompt for their hopes to surge. Harvey Barnes had been denied by the post on 75 minutes after a lovely move, with Joelinton flagged for offside when he put the rebound into the net.
Barnes refused to believe that it would form the basis of his story and there was joy in the home stands when he ghosted unmarked on to a cross from the substitute, Jacob Murphy. Nobody in a Barcelona shirt had tracked him, the finish was true and the Newcastle fans had all kinds of optimistic thoughts ahead of next Wednesday’s Camp Nou return.
Not so fast. Barcelona had not offered very much in the final third but with time almost up, Dani Olmo, who had come on as a substitute, made a move inside the Newcastle area that was too cute for Malick Thiaw. The Newcastle defender nibbled at him, the contact was there and the penalty was given. When Lamine Yamal converted, it added up to the most bitter of pills for Newcastle.
The buildup had been epic, Howe not shying away from the game’s importance – far from it – and the history was a major part of it. The clubs are united by a love for Sir Bobby Robson, who managed both of them. And, from a Newcastle perspective, there was that first-ever match in this competition against Barcelona – the never-to-be-forgotten 3-2 win here in 1997. Tino Asprilla and Keith Gillespie, the heroes from that occasion, were back in town for this one.
Howe could only name Anthony Gordon among the substitutes; the attacker was laid low by illness and the manager preferred William Osula to both Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa in the No 9 role; a huge call. Howe wanted pace where it stood to matter the most. He also wanted intensity, which he got at the outset.
Barcelona had been acclimatising at Matfen Hall since Sunday, the nearby luxury spa, and they looked too relaxed in the early exchanges; still in the saunas and Jacuzzis. Newcastle were turbocharged, feeding off the energy of the crowd.
There was the moment when Lewis Hall headed goalwards after Barcelona had half-cleared a corner and, with the goalkeeper Joan García struggling to find his bearings, Dan Burn almost got a decisive touch. There was another for Newcastle when Anthony Elanga was played clean through and hammered for the far corner, García making a fine low save. The flag went up for offside but Elanga looked OK. He made a number of dangerous incisions up the right.
The visitors knew there would be an element of storm-weathering. They felt it swirl for the opening 15 minutes. Their solution was to get on the ball; to have Pedri twist and turn to buy time and space; to work their patterns. And to feed Lamine Yamal. The wonderkid heard his first touches booed by a home crowd that was eager to spook him. It does not happen with the 18-year-old. The self-assurance runs too deep. He shimmered with menace. It is his default setting.
Lewis Hall stood up to Lamine Yamal. He was a snapshot in concentration and physical commitment – albeit the Newcastle left-back was fortunate to escape a booking on 19 minutes for pulling his opponent back. Ditto the Spaniard when he slammed into Hall after playing a loose pass just before the interval. Call it evens. The Newcastle support hummed with a general sense of indignation at the officials.
What did Barcelona’s vaunted attack have in the first half? Not much. They almost pressured Burn into putting through his own goal and Fermín López banged a shot straight at Aaron Ramsdale.
When the Champions League aria faded out just before kick-off, the roar that followed from the home fans was really something; an assault on the senses. As the second half got under way, the locals tried to drive their team again. They got behind any positive moment, large or small. Newcastle looked to play passes up the channels, to bring their physicality to bear, especially in the duels. Hansi Flick had merely said he wanted “to play like Barça”. Everybody know what that meant.
It was tense. Neither team wanted to overcommit and it was easy to feel the fear of an error. Who would blow the tie open? Elanga looked a decent bet. His pace was a problem for João Cancelo. When he streaked up the right on 58 minutes, he had Osula in the middle but could not find him. Elanga lacked the final action but he deserved the ovation he received when he was withdrawn.
Barcelona almost nicked something when Raphinha crossed low for Robert Lewandowski and he prodded just past the post. Both managers made their changes, Howe getting Gordon on for Osula through the middle. There was a glimpse of Marcus Rashford on the Barcelona left. Would the moment come? It did for Barnes. But then it did for Yamal.
