Newcastle United will be handed a welcome boost to their matchday squad to face Barcelona on Thursday.
Newcastle United remain without Yoane Wissa and Jacob Ramsey to face Barcelona at St James’ Park on Thursday night (8pm kick-off), but will welcome back one player to the matchday squad.
The Magpies head into the game after beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, courtesy of a debut goal from record signing Nick Woltemade.
Meanwhile, Barcelona travel to Newcastle fresh from a 6-0 win over Valencia in La Liga.
Newcastle were without the injured Wissa and Ramsey for the match while winger Anthony Gordon was unavailable due to suspension. Gordon remains suspended for Sunday’s Premier League trip to AFC Bournemouth (2pm kick-off).
It will be the final match of the 24-year-old’s suspension following his straight red card against Liverpool. Gordon has already missed the 0-0 draw at Leeds and the win over Wolves due to his ban.
While red card suspensions carry over through domestic competitions such as the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, a loophole in UEFA’s rules means they do not apply to any European matches. As a result, Gordon will be available to face Barcelona on Thursday night before completing his suspension domestically on Sunday.
In addition, any red card or yellow card suspension Newcastle picks up in the Champions League this season only applies to that competition.
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Anthony Gordon returns for Newcastle United
Gordon played twice for England during the international break and has trained with Newcastle since returning.
The winger will be pushing to come back into the starting line-up against Barcelona on Thursday evening as he looks to make an impact for United.
It’s been a difficult 2025 for Gordon at club level, with his last goal coming in the 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second leg win over Arsenal back in February. His last Premier League goal came in a 3-0 win over Wolves back in January.
Since his last goal for Newcastle, Gordon has been sent off twice, missing the Carabao Cup final win back in March due to a three-match suspension, before being shown a straight red card again in the 3-2 defeat to Liverpool last month.
Gordon’s first game back available domestically will be the Carabao Cup third round tie against Bradford City at St James’ Park on September 24 (7:45pm kick-off). His first Premier League game back will be against Arsenal on September 28 (4:30pm kick-off).
Gordon has a strong record against Arsenal, having scored three goals and assisted another in his last five games against The Gunners.
Newcastle United’s Champions League campaign
Newcastle will be looking to get their Champions League campaign off to a positive start and progress to the knockout rounds of the competition for the first time in the new league phase format.
After Barcelona, Newcastle then face Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica, Athletic Club, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, PSV Eindhoven and Paris Saint-Germain. Of their eight opponents, five are former European Cup winners.
Newcastle will be looking to secure at least a top 24 finish in the 36-team group. A top eight finish guarantees progress to the last-16 of the competition, while finishing ninth to 24th results in a seeded knockout round play-off tie.
Last season, PSG won the Champions League despite finishing 15th in the group phase.
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