La Liga leader Barcelona came to St James’ Park on Tuesday night.
Domestic title winners last season and losing Champions League semi-finalists, this time looking to go all the way in the top European competition.
Many neutrals may well have expected Barcelona to dominate this last 16 Champions League first leg.
However, it didn’t quite turn out that way.
Newcastle United easily the better team and deserved to win, at least by a one goal margin, maybe/probably by a couple.
Always interesting to see how the opposition saw things.
I had a look at the official Barcelona club site and was very pleasantly surprised by what I read, the honesty. Not something you often get when dealing with Premier League rivals.
The official Barcelona site review kicked off with: ‘FC Barcelona got away with it at St James Park. It was a game in which nothing was going right and Newcastle United had enjoyed most of the big chances. And they finally broke the Barça defence to take an 85th minute lead through Harvey Barnes.’
Of course, it wasn’t to be, that cruel very late penalty denying United the win they deserved.
The official Barcelona sit review going on to say: ‘But there was an unexpected late twist in what hadn’t been a very happy tale until then. A penalty with the very last kick of the game earned a 1-1 draw, giving Barça a far healthier scoreline to take into next Wednesday’s return leg at Spotify Camp Nou. Defensively, Barça were superb, reducing the constant Newcastle pressure to half chance after half chance. But up front, things were uncharacteristically flat. It wasn’t the Barça we know and love, but Lamine Yamal’s late penalty changed everything. A draw in a Champions League away leg is never a bad result, and Barça are now finely poised to sort things out when the home advantage is theirs in eight days’ time.’
Yes, Barcelona most definitely got away with one and credit to their official media for being so honest. A very good summing up of how things went during the match.
Newcastle United could and should have been ahead by half-time in the match against Barcelona in September. Like Tuesday night though it was goalless at the break.
This is how the official Barcelona media saw last night’s first half play out: ‘The first half bore a certain similarity to the first half between the same sides in the League Phase. Newcastle were massively fired up and were creating chances from the very first minute, with Joan Garcia quickly called upon to start showcasing his talents. By the break, Barça’s best chance had come when Dan Burn very nearly put the ball in his own net, and a Fermín Lopez shot was the only time that Aaron Ramsdale had any serious work to do in the home nets. Spurred on by a vociferous Toon Army, the Magpies were dictating the rhythm and beating Barça for pace and energy, with Anthony Elanga in particular causing all kinds of trouble down the Newcastle right wing.’
Barcelona are usually seen as having an elite midfield and forward line, with a suspect defence.
The opposition’s official media though, making clear this wasn’t the case against Newcastle United: ‘Fortunately, the black-and-white shirts weren’t capitalising on their copious breakthroughs, due in no short measure to stupendous blaugrana defending. In Barça’s own attacking department, things were disturbingly sterile. And while back in September, things finally clicked into shape in the second half, this time they did not. Newcastle showed no signs of tiring. They continued to threaten far too many times for comfort and on 74 minutes, just after hitting García’s post, they did have the ball in the net. Thankfully, the linesman’s flag was rightly up for offside.’
What I would say, is that I think it was down to how good Newcastle United were, when it came to making Barcelona’s midfield and attack look so ordinary.
United so unlucky as well, because whilst Joelinton was offside when putting the ball in the net, Barnes wasn’t when hitting the post with the keeper well beaten.
United were relentless though and the Barcelona official site going on to say: ‘Other than one chance for Robert Lewandowski, Barça still produced woefully little going forward, and instead were clinging on at the back. On 85 minutes, they were finally beaten. Jacob Murphy whipped in the cross. Barnes had lost his marker and was able to convert from short range. Buoyed by the goal, Newcastle pressed for a second. The best thing for Barça was for the game to end there and then. If there was to be any further score, it didn’t look like it would be in their favour.’
Yes, once Newcastle United were 1-0 up, there only looked to be one team that could potentially add another goal to the scoreline.
Football though has a habit of surprising you, not always in a good way.
The official Barcelona site ending with: ‘Which makes what happened next all the more remarkable. In the sixth minute of injury time, the referee was already set to blow his whistle. And he did. But not for full-time. A clear foul in the box on Dani Olmo. Lamine Yamal had the chance to save the day from the spot. And that’s exactly what he did. Far from a vintage performance from Barça, but under the circumstances, a very fine result indeed. Next Wednesday, this story continues.’
It doesn’t make last night any easier to take, the fact that United clearly deserved to win with that performance. However, very refreshing to have such honesty from Barcelona, calling the match so honestly.