It does not get much bigger for Newcastle United as they take on Barcelona at St James' Park and the La Liga giants arrive in fine form
Fermin Lopez of FC Barcelona celebrates against Valencia
Fermin Lopez scored twice for Barcelona against Valencia(Image: Getty Images)
Newcastle United scouts ran the rule over Barcelona on Sunday night ahead of Thursday's Champions League clash at St James' Park.
The Catalan giants ran out 6-0 winners in a game played at the 6,000 capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium as Barca wait to move back to the Nou Camp.
Barca rested Polish goal machine Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Dani Olmo while Lamine Yamal did not play because of a bone injury. Although Lewandowski and Raphinha came off the bench to score a brace each during an easy rout in La Liga to keep Barcelona in second place.
Never before in La Liga history had two players came off the bench to score twice while Fermín López's double meant that three Barca players scored twice in a game for the first time since 2017 when they beat Osasuna 7-1.
Who replaced wonderkid Lamine Yamal?
Nobody can get excited about the prospect of Yamal being missing at St James' Park after Hansi Flick simply turned to another young star.
In Roony Bardghji, Barca have a right winger capable of taking the game to Newcastle on Champions League night one.
Flick threw the Sweden U21 international for his debut, after his summer move from Copenhagen, and Flick said later that Roony's debut was: "A reward for a week of excellent training sessions and a great mentality.
"It was a very emotional and very special moment."
Roony Bardghji of FC Barcelona
Roony Bardghji of Barcelona(Image: Getty Images)
Will Marcus Rashford be involved?
The man on loan from Man United went into the 6-0 win over Valencia fresh from scoring for England in the World Cup qualifier in Serbia after knocking in a penalty in the 5-0 victory.
Rashford is in line to play against Newcastle after making an assist last night and starring for 68 minutes.
His last goal against Newcastle was a painful one when he netted in the 2-0 Carabao Cup final victory at Wembley in 2023 for the Red Devils.
What else did Flick say?
The Barcelona boss and former Bayern Munich chief could not have asked for more from his players.
Speaking after the 6-0 thumping of Valencia, he said: "Everything went perfectly. From the first minute I saw us playing exactly the way we wanted, and that led to a superb team performance."
How did the Spanish Press react?
A report in La Vanguardia called the 6-0 win a "scandolous thrashing" and called it the "perfect way to warm up for Newcastle".
Barca beat writer Juan Bautista Martínez said: "Nothing could stop Barca and only the post and the goalkeeper denied Fermin crowning his performance with a hat-trick."
Meanwhile, Marca's Barcelona headline read: "Fermin leads the party for Barca!".
The five-times European champions could not be arriving on Tyneside in better spirits but will face a cauldron on noise at St James' Park.
Eddie Howe's view on the Barca game
The Newcastle head coach says the clash is one to relish for his players and is not worried if Yamal plays or not.
When asked about Yamal, Howe told Chronicle Live: "Whenever I get asked these types of questions my answer’s always the same – you want to play the best teams, you want to play against the best players, and you want to challenge yourselves as much as you can.
"But in saying that, we also want to win. We’ll take whoever they play.
"We know they’ve got world-class players in every position, so it’s irrelevant to a degree who is out there."