Newcastle’s great European night ruined with last kick of the game
Newcastle 1-1 Barcelona
There have been some great European nights at St James’ Park and with 94 minutes played this was shaping up to be one of the finest for Eddie Howe’s team, although the Champions League has a way of exacting a very high price for mistakes.
His Newcastle United players had finally seized the lead that their performance warranted with 86 minutes played and were pushing for another as this last-16 first leg ticked over into added time. Thoughts drifted to the Nou Camp for the second leg in eight days’ time and how Harvey Barnes’ goal would give Newcastle a slender but crucial advantage.
Watching in St James’ Park was Faustino Asprilla – the man who scored all three goals on the only occasion, almost three decades ago, when Newcastle had beaten the great Catalan club. Then one phase of play, two badly judged tackles, and Barcelona were on the precipice of an unlikely equaliser. With the last kick of the game that goal was scored – less a mere kick and more a cultured stroke of the ball from the penalty spot from Lamine Yamal.
Even the great teenage prodigy from Barcelona had not had much his own way – in Yamal’s case he was well corralled by Lewis Hall, the game’s outstanding player. Howe’s team had started apace but even when Barcelona withstood that, there was also a fine second-half Newcastle performance. By the time Barnes turned in substitute Jacob Murphy’s cross there was only one team attacking and even after that there could have been another goal for the home side.
It was a collective failure to just close out the game – an absence of the ring craft that comes with a pedigree in this competition. Howe had made his last substitution – the midfielder Joe Willock for his goalscorer Barnes. It was Willock’s foul on Yamal when wiser heads might have just kept the Barcelona winger at bay that allowed the visitors to move up as one. They shifted into position and Newcastle dropped back.
“Certainly as a team we should have done better,” Howe said later of these critical moments. “We defended so well in different phases. The goal seemed soft – the ball went through the middle of us.
“That’s football,” he would say later, “it never plays to the romance. It does what it does.”
His team had failed to defend the edge of their box effectively. With 94 minutes played, the Barcelona substitute Dani Olmo came through the central positions into the Newcastle area. Malick Thiaw, who had played well up to that point, shifted his weight onto the wrong foot, stuck out a leg in a moment of uncertainty and tripped the Barcelona man.
There is still scope for an epic night in Barcelona on Wednesday but in that moment the tie undoubtedly shifted. One suspects that Barcelona will not play as poorly as they did at times on this evening, and Newcastle will find it harder to disrupt the passing of their opponents quite as effectively as they did before. Beaten at Stamford Bridge in the league phase, there is no doubt that Hansi Flick’s team can be overpowered by the tempo of a Premier League team. But that is much harder on the Nou Camp pitch.
Howe is asking much of his players to – especially in what he concedes is the aggressive style he demands of them. Kieran Trippier, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali – these players are being pushed twice a week every week. There was no Anthony Gordon in the starting XI, an illness having affected his readiness. He came on in the major changes before Barnes’s goal but to little effect. In the aftermath of the penalty award, Joelinton wanted to know why his team-mate had not made a tackle earlier.
Howe’s players are at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Barcelona play Sevilla at home on Sunday. The second leg presents many challenges for Howe. His team showed that they can play through Barcelona’s high line – which looked very square at some points, especially in the first half. But they also struggled to get the ball up the pitch when Barcelona pinned them deep in their own half.
Can Hall win his battle with Lamal again in Barcelona? It was a fine performance from the Englishman who benefited from the willingness of Tonali and Joelinton to offer support every time Yamal ran at Hall – but there were a few times when he did it alone. Hall is very good at inserting himself between man and ball and Yamal would lash out on one occasion in response. Going in the other direction, the No 10 is less keen on tracking back and, given the chance, Hall will be able to run at Barcelona’s defence next week.
Dan Burn and Thiaw dominated Robert Lewandowski who was substituted after an ignominious performance – just one first-time shot wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal. Raphinha was kept quiet. Come next week, Newcastle will have to do it all over again. They will also have to conjure a goal from somewhere. Starting the game, William Osula was an aggressive runner in behind but he could not match the composure of his finish for the winner against Manchester United.
On 74 minutes, Hall would clip the post with a shot. When Barnes connected with Murphy’s cross it was hit straight at Joan García but the shaky goalkeeper could not get a strong hand on it. A goal up, Newcastle had the game in their hands. They needed just to take the air out of the game – run down the clock and keep Barcelona as far from goal as possible. The away side already seemed to have resigned themselves to defeat when the foul from Willock gave them some territory. They only needed one tiny error for the penalty and then came the goal that changed it all.
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
