Newcastle United's Brazilian midfielder #39 Bruno Guimaraes (R) shoots but fails to score during the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and Benfica at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on October 21, 2025. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP)placeholder image
Newcastle United's Brazilian midfielder #39 Bruno Guimaraes (R) shoots but fails to score during the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and Benfica at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on October 21, 2025. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) | AFP via Getty Images
Newcastle United claimed back-to-back Champions League wins after beating Benfica 3-0 at St James’ Park.
Newcastle have endured a tough start to the new Premier League season, winning just two of their opening eight matches, both of which came against teams in the relegation zone, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest.
Not only have Newcastle lost all three of their matches to Liverpool, Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion via late goals, but they are also struggling to score goals, with their seven goals in total the joint-lowest in the division.
But in the Champions League, Eddie Howe’s side have had no such problems. They lost 2-1 to Barcelona in their opening group game but have since responded with back-to-back wins over Union Saint-Gilloise and Benfica, totalling in eight goals scored and only one conceded.
Bruno Guimaraes issues 19-word message after Newcastle United’s win v Benfica
After Anthony Gordon’s 32nd-minute opener decided a tight first-half against Benfica, the Magpies took control in the second-half as Harvey Barnes came off the bench to score a brace.
Taking to social media after the game, Guimaraes wrote: “A victory that feels so good. This is the NUFC I know. What an incredible atmosphere. Howay the lads!🖤🤍3️⃣9️⃣”
The challenge now is for United to maintain that performance level, starting with Fulham on Saturday as they look to climb the Premier League. Indeed, that was a message relayed by Howe in his post-match press conference.
Howe said: “Yeah, I think it is that kind of game that we have to take forward into our next few games that we've got coming up. I thought that's the level that we want to be at.
“We've been threatening, I think, putting a performance like that together. Even at Brighton, there were some really, really positive moments, but that gets lost in the result. But today we got both, we got another clean sheet, we scored some goals, confidence returned to our attacking players, so as I said earlier, it's a good night for us.”
Bruno Guimaraes disagrees with Jose Mourinho over St James’ Park
Guimaraes hailed the St James’ Park atmosphere against Benfica as “incredible”, though Benfica boss Jose Mourinho didn’t quite seem to agree.
“I think it was beautiful, but to be honest I think in the first half it was quiet at St James'. It was quiet,” Mourinho said. “They felt that the game was not easy.
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“They brought their enthusiasm in set-pieces, which is normal. When you have a team of giants, you know that every set-piece win, a free-kick, corner, you know that is a dramatic moment for the opponent.
“It was the only moment where they brought that enthusiasm and that pressure to the opponent. We felt very comfortable in the first half.
“In the second half, the second goal killed the game. After that, it was easy for Newcastle to play, easy for the fans to enjoy. But to be honest, the atmosphere was just nice, not difficult.
“Beautiful in the sense of fair play, no problems, good referee, not disciplinary problems. In that sense, I think it was a quiet St James'.”
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