Newcastle United hosting Barcelona, Lewis Hall up against Lamine Yamal.
A duel that was expected to have a major bearing on this St James’ Park contest.
Lamine Yamal scored that late equaliser from the penalty spot.
However, there was no doubt about who won this duel of top class winger and elite lifelong Newcastle United fan.
Barcelona star man Lamine Yamal wasn’t able to dribble past Lewis Hall even once in the 90+ minutes.
Whilst the United defender was superb going forward, creating five chances, the most created by any player on the pitch.
On top of all of that, the appalling referee failed to book Lamine Yamal for a cynical foul on Lewis Hall, after yet again the NUFC player got the better of him. A yellow card which would have been Yamal’s third in the competition and seen him suspended for the second leg.
Lewis Hall looking back on this match: “I thought that we were outstanding and the last goal doesn’t reflect our performance really. If we are taking the game to them at 1-0 for the second leg, we are in a really good position. We can be really proud of the effort we put in today. They are obviously a top side and we knew the game was going to be difficult, but, as I said, we can be so proud of ourselves.”
It was a superb team performance from Newcastle United and Eddie Howe got his tactics and approach absolutely right.
The United boss having his team press from the first whistle: “Whenever we play here, we want to start sharp. Anyone who plays against us knows that’s what we want to do and I thought we did it really well today. I felt our energy levels and fitness levels carried on throughout the whole 90 minutes. Like I said, I think we deserved more from the game, really.”
Newcastle United finally got the goal they deserved, Harvey Barnes scoring in the 86th minute.
However, the home side kept pressing, trying to double their lead ahead of the second leg, rather than sitting back.
Lewis Hall asked about that: “Whenever we are on a high, we want to keep going, we want to keep pushing. And that shows a lot about our mentality. Sometimes in these moments, it’s easy to get carried away. And I guess there’s an argument that maybe we did at the end there, trying to push for another goal. Obviously it is going to be tough to go there and get a result, but I feel with our team, our squad, if anyone can, we could do it.”