Newcastle United will be coming up against some of the world’s best footballers when they welcome Barcelona to St James’ Park on Thursday, including Robert Lewandowski.
The Champions League is back this week and fans are being treated to a sensational game in its opening week.
Newcastle United host La Liga giants Barcelona in the first gameweek of Europe’s premier competition, the first time the two teams have met since March 2003.
Barca ran out 2-0 winners in the game at St James’ Park thanks to goals from a young Thiago Motta and Patrick Kluivert, who would move to the Magpies just a year later.
Newcastle are welcoming top players like Fermin Lopez, Pedri and Robert Lewandowski, who, in a recent interview, made an admission fans will absolutely love to hear.
Robert Lewandowski celebrates a goal during a La Liga game between Barcelona and Valencia.
Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images
Robert Lewandowski grew up a Newcastle United fan
Lewandowski is widely recognised as one of the best strikers in football history, making a name for himself at Borussia Dortmund before enjoying several trophy-laden years with Bayern Munich and now Barcelona.
At 37, the Poland international is showing no signs of stopping and is raring to go for yet another season. First up is Newcastle, who will be eager to thwart the onslaught from Lewandowski and the La Liga side.
While he will be focused on getting the three points, Lewandowski admitted his secret admiration for the Magpies in a recent interview with The Times.
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“When I was growing up I remember I had the jersey of Newcastle, with Shearer No.9 on the back.” he said.
“It was a family present and I wore it a lot because at the time he was right on the top.
“Of course, I did the celebration as well, it was unique.”
Barcelona wanted to sell Robert Lewandowski to sign a Newcastle United star in 2023
For some Newcastle players, it will be the first time they have played in the Champions League. New signing Nick Woltemade was the hero against Wolves, but it is a completely different test for the young German, who has never played in the competition before.
Elsewhere, new signings like Aaron Ramsdale and Anthony Elanga have played in the Champions League before, but it has been a long time since they played in the competition.
Bruno Guimaraes will surely be ready for the big game under the lights on Thursday. It will be his first European game for the Magpies since taking over from Kieran Trippier as captain. However, things could have been very different if Barca had got their way.
Reports in 2023 stated that Barca were prepared to sell Lewandowski to sign Guimaraes, with the Brazilian still carrying his £100m release clause from the contract he signed earlier that year.
In the end, nothing came from it, and both players stayed at their respective clubs. Guimaraes now has the opportunity to show Barcelona what they missed out on; he can do so by putting in another top-class performance.