**Eddie Howe says Tino Livramento will be in the Newcastle United squad for the Champions League game against Barcelona, but he is unsure if the full-back is ready to start.**
Livramento had been out with a hamstring injury for two months, and made his long awaited return off the bench in the [3-1 FA Cup loss to Manchester City](https://hayters.com/howe-says-he-had-to-protect-several-key-players-in-fa-cup-loss-to-man-city/amp/) this past weekend.
Asked if the 23-year-old was ready to start the first leg of the round of 16 game against Barcelona, Howe said: “He probably hasn’t done enough training for me to feel 100% confident that he’s in that best physical moment, especially for such a big game, to start.
“But he’s in our squad and anyone in the squad is in contention to play. It’s a delicate balance with Tino at this moment. He trained this morning, he trained on Friday. He’s in good spirits and in a good place.
“He’s a massive player for us and it is great to have him back. I have to try and get the team selection right.”
Newcastle have already played Barcelona once in the UCL this season, and lost 2-1 in that group game in September.
Howe also says the rest of his squad is in a good place.
“We came through the Manchester City game okay,” he said. “Relatively okay. No fresh injuries. We have a little bit of illness in the camp which has been hanging around in recent days. We’ve had players go down but they are recovering quite quickly.
“I anticipate fingers crossed that we won’t lose anybody and that we will be as we were with Livramento back in the squad.”