This will be the fifth competitive meeting between Newcastle United and Barcelona, with the Magpies winning the first clash 3-2 in September 1997, before losing each of their next three against their Spanish opponents.
Barcelona have won 12 of their last 16 UEFA Champions League games against English opposition (D2 L2), scoring 2.1 goals per game on average during that run.
Newcastle have previously faced Spanish opposition 11 times in major European competition, winning six of those matches (L5), including each of their last three in succession.
Barcelona were defeated in their last away UEFA Champions League game on English soil (4-0 v Liverpool) and have only lost consecutive such matches on one occasion previously (v Arsenal in 2011 and Chelsea in 2012).
Newcastle have won just one of their last eight UEFA Champions League games (D3 L4), a 4-1 home win against Paris Saint-Germain during the 2023-24 group stage.
Of managers with 10+ games in charge of a team in the UEFA Champions League, the two sides with the highest goals per game average are both Hansi Flick sides – 3.2 with Bayern Munich (2019-2021) and 3.1 with current club Barcelona.
Barcelona’s Raphinha was directly involved in more goals than any other player in the UEFA Champions League last season (21 – 13 goals, eight assists). Of players to assist 10+ goals in the UEFA Champions League, the Brazilian has the best assists-per-game ratio of anyone in the competition’s history (0.46 – 12 in 26 appearances).
Only three current Newcastle players have scored for the club in the UEFA Champions League; two of which are defenders (Dan Burn and Fabian Schär), along with Joelinton.
Barcelona forward Marcus Rashford has been directly involved in eight goals in 11 career starts against Newcastle (five goals, three assists), including four in six starts at St. James’ Park against them (two goals, two assists).
Lamine Yamal’s next outing for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League will see him become the player with the most appearances in the competition while aged 18 or younger (currently on 23 – level with Paris SG’s Warren Zaïre-Emery).