Newcastle United were on the verge of another famous victory at St James’ Park in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Unfortunately, Eddie Howe’s Magpies were unable to protect their precious one-point lead against Barcelona’s strength and the game went into stoppage time.
Malik Thiau’s reckless challenge on Dani Olmo allowed Lamine Yamal to equalize from the penalty spot, but it broke Thun’s hearts everywhere and Barça didn’t blush.
Even if Newcastle miss out on a legendary win, they still have plenty of positive performances to maintain as they look to defeat the La Liga giants on their own turf in the second leg.
Newcastle’s best performers vs Barcelona
Howe rightly praised his side’s impressive performance, calling it “nearly perfect” as Hansi Flick’s visiting side struggled to get things going for much of the game on Tyneside.
Yamal would eventually score the devastating equalizer, but other than the crucial moment from the penalty spot, the Ballon d’Or candidate was cleverly overshadowed by Lewis Hall, as the former Chelsea defender continued to shine brightly in the Newcastle first-team spotlight.
Chelsea will probably be wishing they could turn back time to convince Hall not to leave Stamford Bridge. His outstanding performances, creating five big chances and winning six duels, led to analyst Raj Chauhan’s glowing review of him as the “best left-back” in the entire Premier League.
Moreover, Harvey Barnes continued his good form in the Champions League against Barça, and another blow fell into his lap in this season’s glorious competition.
His powerful goal, beating Joao Garcia in the closing stages, was Barnes’ sixth goal of the season in the Champions League after just eight starts, and he will be dreaming of another memorable goal at the Camp Nou.
Overall, Newcastle’s tenacity and energy showed a team unafraid of their bodies, even though one of Europe’s top clubs was traveling to St James’s Park.
Howe in particular would have been delighted with the performance of a player who looks like he could be Newcastle’s new Elliott Anderson.
Newcastle’s new signing Anderson
Just as Chelsea are desperate for a time machine to reverse their failure with Hall, there will be moments when Newcastle wish they hadn’t sent Anderson to Nottingham Forest so soon.
After all, the sale of the Forest midfielder helped Newcastle meet the PSR regulations, but the well-oiled star is now worth far more than the £35m the Magpies originally received in the sale, with the center of attention being Anderson’s reported valuation of a staggering £100m in 2026.
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Take a look at the 20 most expensive departures from Newcastle.
He’s won a crazy 8.2 duels per game in the Premier League this season, which is more than the average of Newcastle’s midfield mainstay Bruno Guimarães, and it’s absurd to think what Toon’s midfield package would be like today if the feisty 23-year-old had stayed.
Rather than wallowing in frustration, Newcastle could add another Anderson-like figure to their ranks in Jacob Ramsey. Ramsey put in a great performance from Howe and the team’s midfield in the opening three games of the Champions League.
Ramsey’s outstanding numbers | |
|---|---|
status | ramsey |
Play time (minutes) | 90 |
touch | 48 |
exact path | 26/29 (90%) |
dribbling success | 1/1 |
ball carry | 11 |
tackle win | 3/4 |
Total number of duels won | 7/15 |
Against the likes of Pedri and Fermin López, Ramsey looked like a big-money player in the same vein as Anderson, with the dynamic No. 41 consistently pushing the hosts up the field with 11 brave ball carries.
Furthermore, the former Aston Villa prodigy shows no signs of being put under pressure on the ball and continues to achieve a passing accuracy of 90%. To add context, Ramsey competed so effectively with some of the elite players that the aforementioned Pedri only averaged a poor 82% passing accuracy.
Anderson also showed plenty of the grit and fight for which he has become known at the City Ground, winning a total of 10 tackles and duels for his team’s passionate cause, and it’s clear that Newcastle may have found a diamond in the rough when they signed the Birmingham-born talent for Villa.
But Newcastle must give Ramsey more game time to avoid ending up in a situation like Anderson, who was itching to leave St James’ Park for minutes.
Indeed, thanks to this outstanding performance, the 24-year-old could easily earn first-team minutes as he looks to kick-off on Tyneside after such a flawless performance on a daunting stage.
Saved by: Barnes: Howe must drop Newcastle star who only completed 5 passes against Barca
Newcastle were just minutes away from clinching a famous victory over Barcelona.
