David Beckham has made a prediction regarding Newcastle United for the upcoming Champions League campaign.
Newcastle United kick-off their 2025/26 Champions League campaign on Thursday night against Barcelona at St James’ Park (8pm kick-off).
It’s The Magpies’ fourth time in the competition proper as they will be pushing to reach the knockout stages for the first time under the new group phase format.
Newcastle start their campaign against five-time Champions League winners Barcelona, who are among the favourites to win the competition again this season.
The fixture holds a lot of significance to The Magpies, who hosted Barcelona in their first ever Champions League match at St James’ Park on September 17, 1997. That match was made famous by Tino Asprilla scoring a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over the Catalan club.
Almost exactly 28 years on, Newcastle will kick off their Champions League campaign against Barcelona once again. Out of the four times Newcastle have qualified for the Champions League proper, they have been drawn against Barcelona on three occasions.
Despite winning the first-ever meeting between the sides, Newcastle lost the reverse fixture that season before losing home and away in the second group stage back in 2003.
After facing Barcelona on Thursday, Newcastle face seven more opponents as part of the new Champions League group format.
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Newcastle United Champions League fixtures
On October 1, Newcastle face Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium (5:45pm kick-off) before hosting Benfica and Athletic Club on October 21 and November 5 respectively (both 8pm kick-off).
The Magpies’ fifth group phase match will be away to Marseille on November 25 (8pm kick-off) before they travel to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen on December 10 (8pm kick-off).
In the new year, Newcastle round of their Champions League group phase with a home match against PSV Eindhoven on January 21 (8pm kick-off) and a trip to France to face holders Paris Saint-Germain on January 28 (8pm kick-off).
The new group format means the eight teams with the highest number of points overall will progress straight through to the last-16 of the competition while club’s ranked ninth to 24th will compete in a seeded knockout round play-off match.
Teams ranked 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the competition.
David Beckham tips Newcastle United to cause Champions League ‘surprise’
Speaking on CBS Sports, football icon David Beckham tipped Newcastle to cause a surprise in the upcoming Champions League campaign.
The Magpies have pulled off shocks of sorts in each of their previous three Champions League ventures. Firstly by beating Barcelona in 1997, then by qualifying out of the group in 2002/03 despite losing their opening three matches. And last time out they shocked the football world by claiming a 4-1 win over PSG at St James’ Park in their first Champions League home match in over 20 years.
And Beckham, who won the 1999 Champions League trophy with Manchester United, namechecked Newcastle as a potential surprise package.
“Surprise would have to be...I think people are already writing Newcastle off, but they're a good team and they've got some good players who are very together as a team and as fans and as a club,” Beckham said. “I think they could surprise a few people.”
Former Liverpool Champions League winner Jamie Carragher, whose surprise prediction was that three of the six English teams that qualified for the competition would not progress from the group phase, added with a laugh: "They are one of my three to go through - they are now!”
Beckham then quipped: "You're such a liar."
In addition to Newcastle, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will also be representing the Premier League in the competition this season.
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