Barcelona will take on Newcastle United in their first Champions League group stage clash of this season at St James’ Park on Thursday.
Hansi Flick will be without his star, Lamine Yamal, for the key clash against Newcastle as the 18-year-old is forced out due to an injury.
There’s another factor that may impact Barcelona when they face Newcastle later today.
Thursday’s edition of AS warns Barca of the ‘great atmosphere’ at Newcastle United’s stadium, where their fans ‘never stop cheering for their players’.
The newspaper state: ‘[The visitors] will practically have to do it alone because hardly any Barcelona fans have travelled to the match.’
It’s explained the Tyneside club have allocated 2,600 tickets to the La Liga winners, but less than 30% of that are expected to turn up at St James’ Park.
To be precise, AS report 772 Barcelona fans are expected to be in attendance when the Blaugrana face Eddie Howe’s side.
The report states a large section of away fans didn’t fancy it because the trip was ‘truly expensive’.
Another report from AS say there’s celebration in Newcastle that Yamal won’t be able to face the Magpies. The Spain international, who has two goals and three assists from three games, isn’t fit for the Newcastle clash.
AS say a Newcastle fan at The Strawberry pub, located next to St James’ Park, joked: ‘Will Lamine not play? One more pint.’
They add some of the Premier League club’s supporters believe Barcelona will be ‘less intimidating’ without Yamal.