Newcastle United's English midfielder #10 Anthony Gordon leaves the leaves the pitch injured during the UEFA Champion's League league-stage football match between Newcastle United and Athletic Bilbao at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on November 5, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Newcastle United's English midfielder #10 Anthony Gordon leaves the leaves the pitch injured during the UEFA Champion's League league-stage football match between Newcastle United and Athletic Bilbao at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on November 5, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Newcastle United 2-0 Athletic Club: Dan Burn and Joelinton scored to help Eddie Howe’s side to a third successive Champions League win.
Newcastle United beat Athletic Club 2-0 at St James’ Park on Wednesday night to move up to sixth in the group phase table.
Headers in either half from Dan Burn and Joelinton saw Eddie Howe’s side make it three wins in a row in the Champions League and five wins in a row at St James’ Park in all competitions.
At the halfway stage in the Champions League group phase, Newcastle sit sixth in the 36 team table. While only goal difference is keeping them in the top eight automatic last-16 progress spots, they are six points inside the top 24 with four games left to play.
After losing 2-1 to Barcelona in their opening group phase match, Newcastle have beaten Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0, Benfica 3-0 and now Athletic Club 2-0 to move ahead of the likes of Real Madrid and Liverpool in the overall table on goal difference at the midway point.
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Eddie Howe reacts to another Champions League win for NUFC
Speaking after the match, Newcastle head coach Howe said: “I think they're all very, very difficult games and I think today we navigated that one really well, especially after the weekend it was important.
“We responded mentally and our psychology was really good and I thought we were in a good place today in that respect. I don’t think it was our best performance, but it was good enough.
“Three wins in a row, some strong performances at home and we're in a good position.”
Newcastle took the lead early on through a stunning header from Burn from Kieran Trippier’s free-kick.
“It was an incredible header from Dan,” Howe admitted. “I'd like to see it again to see actually how far out he was. I mean, I was right behind it at a great view.
“It looked in from the minute he struck it and it was a well-worked routine. So well done to everyone involved in that.
“And similar feeling for me to the cup final [Carabao Cup final goal v Liverpool], in a sense that it's a strong header from distance and it's had the power and the direction to go in. So a brilliant moment for him.”
NUFC hit with fresh injury blow
It wasn’t all positive for Newcastle as they lost William Osula to an ankle injury ahead of the match and winger Anthony Gordon was substituted before half-time with a hip issue.
The England international was substituted off at half-time against West Ham United on Sunday with Howe referencing Gordon’s hip issue after the game.
“I've not spoke to him and I haven't really had a full rundown from the medical team,” Howe claimed. “It seems like a recurrence of his hip injury that has been plaguing him in recent weeks.
“So we'll assess that and see what damage is done.”
Gordon previously suffered a hip issue while away with England back in March but Howe couldn’t confirm whether it was the same problem.
But the injury means Gordon will be a doubt for the upcoming Premier League match at Brentford on Sunday (2pm kick-off) and potentially the next England squad for the November international break.
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