Newcastle 1-2 Barcelona
by Roger Domeneghetti
at St James’ Park

THE Champions League on a Thursday might not feel quite right, but Newcastle against Barcelona does. St James’ Park on a balmy autumn evening is made for games like this infused with passion.

It was 29 years and one day since that Tino Asprilla hat-trick, but history did not repeat itself, Marcus Rashford’s brace breaking Newcastle’s hearts instead.

In the build-up, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick had warned of ‘intensity’ his team would face. In the opening stages, they faced the full force of Howe-ball. With the volume cranked up to 11, Newcastle fed off the energy of the crowd and made the early running.

Anthony Elanga tormented Gerard Martin down the right. On another night, he might have had two assists. Anthony Gordon, in for Nick Woltemade, fluffed an early gilt-edged chance. Minutes later Harvey Barnes dinked a shot wide; the offside flag spared his blushes. 

If the first half belonged to Newcastle, the second belonged to Barcelona. While the former, still in the fog of the post-Isak hangover, spurned their chances, the latter gratefully took theirs. 

With England boss Thomas Tuchel in the crowd, Rashford looked like a man with a point to prove. Barely five minutes after the break, he unleashed a shot that caught Fabian Schar square in the face. The Newcastle man crumpled to floor and received extended treatment. Yet he did not go off. 

It was arguably the pivotal moment of the game. Minutes later, Rashford grabbed the opener, his first for Barcelona, nodding Jules Kounde’s pacy cross past Nick Pope. Crucially, Schar, off the pace, giving him half a yard. Clearly still groggy, it was his last meaningful action; his game was soon done. 

Rashford wasn’t. If his first was good, his second was great. Taking control of the ball just outside the Newcastle area, he held off Sandro Tonali and unleashed a shot past Nick Pope of the crossbar and into the back of the net. It was yet more reason to question Ruben Amorim’s decision to ostracise him from Old Trafford. 

With Barcelona having taken a vice-like grip on the game, the hope drained away from the stands, but Eddie Howe’s team never quite know when they’re done. With 90 minutes on the board, they grabbed an unlikely lifeline, Anthony Gordon scuffing Jacob Murphy’s inviting cross beyond Joan Garcia.

The noise levels increased, and the seven minutes of added time were played with the intensity of the first 15. Another night for history wasn’t to be, however.