Key events
21 min: Eric Garcia’s comeback from injury hasn’t lasted too long. He’s replaced by Ronald Araújo, and this is now the Barcelona XI that started the first leg.
20 min: Three minutes and 41 seconds passed between the equaliser and Barca’s second.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-1 Newcastle (Bernal 18); agg 3-2
Raphinha wedges a diagonal free kick towards Martin on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Martin heads down, across the face of goal, and Bernal can’t miss from five yards, steering a shot across Ramsdale and into the bottom left. Burn playing everyone onside.
17 min: Yamal dribbles hard down the middle of the park. Joelinton clips him from behind, and he’ll be on a booking for a long time now. He’ll also miss the first leg of the quarters should Newcastle get through.
16 min: That was a hell of a burst down the flank by Hall, who is pushing for a start at left-back for England in the World Cup.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-1 Newcastle (Elanga 15); agg 2-2
Newcastle are level, and it’s another lovely goal! Hall one-twos at speed with Barnes on the left touchline. He’s suddenly in a bit of space, and Elanga is clear in the middle. Hall crosses low, the ball rolling across the penalty spot. Does the cross push Elanga too far wide to shoot? Nearly, but no! Elanga holds his nerve while drifting right, and gently swivels to sweep a shot across Joan Garcia and into the middle of the net!
14 min: Lopez drops deep and tries to release Raphinha with a defence-splitter down the middle. Trippier reads the danger well to intercept.
12 min: Tonali’s delivery of this free kick is even poorer than the first one. Easily cleared. But that’s the first response from Newcastle to their early setback. Small acorns.
11 min: Barnes snaffles possession and drives down the left. He hurdles the sliding Bernal, who hooks him down as he hovers. That could have been a booking as well. Just a free kick, and a replay of the one Newcastle had early doors.
10 min: Now it’s all Barca in terms of possession. Is it completely ridiculous to point out that the first three minutes seem an awfully long time ago? Yes.
8 min: That’s such a shame for Newcastle after such a fine start. And they’ll need to clear their heads, because now Tonali air-kicks when trying to deal with a long Martin pass. Lopez is clear! But Ramsdale comes out of his box and blocks, legally, without use of an arm, as Lopez tries to round him. Big intervention.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Newcastle (Raphinha 6); agg 2-1
… and the modern Barca are indeed lovers, not fighters. Raphinha wins a corner down the left. Ramsdale claims and clears, but Barca come straight back at them. Yamal dribbles down the middle, then rolls a pass wide right to Raphinha. He miscontrols, but Hall slips, and Lopez picks up possession on the overlap. Lopez cuts back to Raphinha, who is able to steady himself with Hall out of the picture. He passes gracefully across Ramsdale and into the bottom left. Lovely sweeping move, albeit aided by Hall’s misfortune.
4 min: Barcelona go long down the middle, looking for Lewandowski. No good. Let’s hope that’s the only way in which they go back to the 1980s.
3 min: … Burn swivels on the edge of the D and whips a shot straight at keeper Joan Garcia. Newcastle have started marvellously. Gauntlet down!
2 min: Tonali’s delivery isn’t all that. It’s half cleared. Elanga loops the ball harmlessly into Joan Garcia’s hands. But Newcastle come again, once more through Gordon, whose deep cross wins the first corner of the match. And from that …
1 min: Gordon dribbles down the left and spins Eric Garcia, who is fortunate not to get booked for a pull of the shirt. But it is a free kick in a dangerous position, just to the left of the Barca box. Tonali to take.
Newcastle United get the ball rolling. Whistles as they pass it about the back.
The teams are out! Barcelona in their storied blaugrana; Newcastle in their famous black and white stripes. Zadok the Priest (Version) sounds extra special in this cathedral. A fine atmosphere, and we’ll be off in a minute or two!
Pre-match postbag. “Camp Nou is surely the Sagrada Familia of football. It must be the tallest, biggest stadium in the world now, and obviously judging by the cranes in the photo, like Gaudi’s edifice, it ain’t finished yet”- Jeremy Boyce
“Could something that’s happened just four times in 34 years occur twice in 26 hours? Well, the day after Liverpool famously overturned that 0-3 loss to Barcelona, Spurs overturned an 0-3 aggregate deficit to Ajax (0-1 in the first game in London and then 0-2 at half-time in Amsterdam). In some ways it was even more impressive” – Gideon Avrahami
“Nice work on your early footnote hat-trick and the invocation of Craig Bellamy’s name and fighting qualities in the preview. Some huge calls made by Eddie Howe: it looks like a very positive and mobile front three with Barnes, Gordon and Elanga, so I don’t think we’ll die wondering on the 18th hole. Speaking of dying wondering: I just checked the expiry date on my haul of bacon and we are good for an early morning, home-made, UCL-mornings Bacon and Egg Roll” – Chris Paraskevas (with one for the MBM heads there. And I thought my footnote was self-indulgent.)
Eddie Howe talks to TNT Sports. “We performed well a week ago … we need a similar-type performance … need to be good again … take a couple more of the chances we got … [Barcelona] could tweak things … but it’s interesting that both teams have been quite consistent in their selection … we’re looking forward to the game … the size of the [Camp Nou] pitch won’t deviate too much from the one we play on at St James’ Park … it’ll be how they use the ball and how good they are in tight situations … we know what to expect … we need to be at our absolute very best to qualify … that’s what we’re trying to deliver.”
Dan Burn is asked by TNT Sports for his opinion of Camp Nou, and quips: “It’s amazing. It’ll be even better when it’s finished!” A stellar career in the music hall stretches out ahead.
The winner of this tie will play either Tottenham Hotspur or Atletico Madrid† in the quarter finals in April. Both teams have four players who will miss the first leg of that tie should they pick up a booking tonight. Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Gerard Martín and Marc Casadó are the four Barca players on the disciplinary tightrope; Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, Dan Burn and Joe Willock are the Toon quartet who need to take extra care.
† I did think about employing the hoary old strikethrough gag for “either Tottenham Hotspur or” up there. But last night Sporting Club became only the fifth team in Champions League history to come back from a first-leg deficit of three goals or more, joining Deportivo La Coruña, Roma, Liverpool, and Barcelona in the pantheon, so why not Spurs? Could something that’s happened just four times in 34 years occur twice in 26 hours? Thanks to the efforts of the current Spurs team? Let’s rule nothing out! Maybe there’s something in the air. But this is a matter for tonight’s Clockwatch, I’ve gone well off piste here.††
†† Footnotes longer than the entry they annotate are kinda fun.†††
††† Self-indulgent, but fun.
Both teams make just one change to their starting line-up from the first leg at St James’ Park. Eric Garcia comes into the Barcelona defence at the expense of Ronald Araújo, while up front for Newcastle, Anthony Gordon replaces Will Osula. Araújo and Osula both drop to the bench.
The teams
Barcelona: Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia, Cubarsi, Gerard, Joao Cancelo, Bernal, Gonzalez, Yamal, Lopez, Raphinha, Lewandowski.
Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Araujo, Gavi, Torres, Rashford, Casado, Olmo, Cortes, Espart, Marques, Bardghji.
Newcastle United: Ramsdale, Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall, Ramsey, Tonali, Joelinton, Elanga, Gordon, Barnes.
Subs: Pope, Ruddy, Harris, Botman, Wissa, Osula, Livramento, Jacob Murphy, Woltemade, Willock, Alex Murphy, Neave.
Referee: Francois Letexier (France).
Preamble
How costly will Lamine Yamal’s late, late, late equaliser in last week’s first leg prove to be? Because the thing is, Barcelona have only lost two of their 37 home matches against English clubs and are unbeaten against them in 14, ever since Craig Bellamy rocked up to play a little golf back in 2007. History isn’t Newcastle United’s friend here.
Or is it?! And that’s because Newcastle have lost only one of their last ten Champions League matches; have lost the second leg in only one of their last ten European ties, winning seven; and have won two of the three European ties in which they drew the first leg at home. Throw in Barca’s habit this season of suffering some really big off-days – beaten 4-1 by Sevilla, 3-0 by Chelsea, 4-0 by Atletico Madrid – plus Newcastle having the personnel to bother Hansi Flick’s gung-ho high line, and Eddie Howe’s men won’t be going to Camp Nou without hope. Kick-off is at 5.45pm GMT. It’s on!
