Newcastle 1 Barcelona 1
Barcelona got away with one tonight. To be honest I thought Barcelona were awful tonight, that frontline that we all know can be the best in Europe was absolutely miles off the pace as Newcastle largely dominated Barcelona for most of the match, if Newcastle’s frontline had just a tad more quality they easily would have scored at least 2 or 3 but they just didn’t have that cutting edge that you need to score multiple goals past that Barcelona backline. Anthony Elanga had the best chance of the first half timing his run to perfection and shooting towards the bottom corner only for Joan Garcia to somehow get a hand to it to keep the game at 0-0. The second half was largely the same with Newcastle knocking on the door and it took to the 86th minute as Jacob Murphy crossed the ball to a completely unmarked Harvey Barnes who’s volley just squeezed past Joan Garcia to send St James Park into delirium. It seemed like Newcastle were going to get away with a one goal lead until the 5th minute of added time were Malick Thiaw mistimed a tackle on Dani Olmo to give Barca a penalty in the last minute of the game. Lamine Yamal stepped up and coolly dispatched to bring Barca level with it all to play for at Camp Nou next week.
A tough one to take for Newcastle tonight. To be honest I don’t think that Newcastle could have played much better with the players they had out there tonight, the big talking point before the game was that Will Osula was starting again ahead of Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa with Anthony Gordon only fit to come off the bench in the 67th minute. This decision didn’t work for Eddie Howe as Osula looked out of his depth out there and struggled to hurt the Barcelona backline which looked weak at points during the game. Elanga was the standout in the attack breaking the offside trap multiple times but the problem with Elanga is that cutting edge which let him down tonight as it has multiple times already for Newcastle this season. Even without Bruno Guimaraes Newcastle dominated large portions of the match with Sandro Tonali yet again having another outstanding game for Newcastle. It’s not tie over yet but Newcastle will have some task beating Barcelona at Camp Nou next week.
A night off for Barcelona’s attack. I couldn’t believe what I was watching at times last night as Raphinha, Lewandowski, Yamal and Fermin Lopez all had games to forget as Aaron Ramsdale didn’t have a save to make all night. You have to give credit to Newcastle’s defenders but it’s not often that Barcelona don’t score from open play in a match under Hansi Flick, the lack of a top class striker is probably going to cost Barcelona this season in the Champions League as Lewandowski is far past his best and Ferran Torres is too inconsistent to play up front every game for Barcelona at the minute. Raphinha’s form has dropped off a cliff this season compared to last as every attack seems to come down Lamine Yamal’s side who got pocketed by Lewis Hall the whole game, Olmo looked a class act when he came on and salvaged a draw for Barcelona to bring back to Camp Nou next week were Barcelona will have to be at their best to put this Newcastle side out.
Lewis Hall has to be starting for England at the World Cup. If it wasn’t clear already this season tonight’s game showed just how good Lewis Hall has been playing for Newcastle this season. Yamal didn’t get a sniff all night and was forced to track back the whole game as Lewis Hall marauded forward down that left-hand-side putting crosses in all game long. Yamal has been in ridiculous form in this last month or so but that didn’t faze Lewis Hall who was by far the best player on the pitch tonight. I don’t know if Thomas Tuchel was at the stadium tonight but no doubt he’ll already know the quality that Hall possesses in that left-back position, it’ll probably be between Hall and Nico O’Reilly as to who’ll start for England in the summer but for me it has to be Lewis Hall especially in those big games against the likes of France and Spain that England will have to face if they go far in the competition.
Barcelona still big favourites going into next week. We know just how strong Barca are at home, you just have to see the Atletico game last week were Barcelona nearly overturned a 4-goal deficit to go to the Copa Del Rey final to know just how strong Barca are at Camp Nou. That’s not to say that Newcastle have no chance next week as we’ve already seen that they can hurt Barcelona but they’ll have to be ruthless in front of the net to stand a chance, I’d be shocked if Anthony Gordon didn’t start that game as they’ll need all the quality they can get at the front end of the pitch. It should be a good game next Wednesday as Newcastle look to cause a shock and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in the clubs history.