Newcastle have a number of players currently away from the club on loan elsewhere
Odysseas Vlachodimos of Sevilla celebrates during their win over Barcelona
Odysseas Vlachodimos of Sevilla celebrates during their win over Barcelona(Image: 2025 Quality Sport Images)
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Odysseas Vlachodimos' start to life at Sevilla continued to go from strength to strength at the weekend as helped his new side thrash Spanish champions Barcelona 4-1 in La Liga.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper made just one appearance for Newcastle before making the move to Seville on a season-long loan deal in the summer but he has quickly become a fan favourite at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium.
The Greek international made a number of crucial saves, including a brilliant point stop from point blank range from Marcus Rashford but the key moment came when he faced up to a Robert Lewandowski penalty with his side 2-1 up.
Lewandowski took a hop-step run-up, waiting for Vlachodimos to commit to diving one way so he could roll the ball in the other direction.
But he held his ground, forcing Lewandowski to try and whip the ball in the bottom left hand corner and he got it horribly wrong, sending the ball well wide of the post.
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One Sevilla fan dubbed Vlachodimos a 'goalkeeper who earns points' on social media, while another described him as their 'hero between the posts'.
His performance was recognised by football statistics website WhoScored, who named Vlachodimos in the La Liga Team of the Week for matchday eight.
It ended Barcelona's unbeaten record in La Liga this season and meant Real Madrid leapfrogged the Catalan giants into top spot in the table.
The win lifted Sevilla up to sixth and Vlachodimos will now meet up with his Greece team-mates ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Scotland and Denmark.
There is not believed to be an obligation to buy included in Vlachodimos' loan deal but Newcastle will hope his excellent form in Spain will drive a selling market for him next summer.
Meanwhile, Matt Targett lasted 84 minutes as Middlesbrough were beaten 1-0 by Portsmouth in the Championship as they fell to second place in the league table.
Antonio Cordero came on as a 90th minute substitute as Westerlo beat Oud-Heverlee Leuven 2-0 in the Belgian Pro League, while goalkeeper Aidan Harris played the full 90 minutes as Coleraine were beaten 2-1 by Bangor in the Northern Irish Premiership.
Joe White (Leyton Orient), Travis Hernes (Groningen) and Trevan Sanusi (Lorient) did not feature for their loan sides over the weekend.