Newcastle United take on Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday evening
Anthony Elanga of Newcastle United (20) and Gerard Martín of FC Barcelona (18) tussle for the ball
Anthony Elanga of Newcastle United (20) and Gerard Martín of FC Barcelona (18) tussle for the ball(Image: 2025 Newcastle United)
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Newcastle United welcome Barcelona to St James' Park this evening for the second time already this season and have plenty of reason to be confident, despite defeat back in September.
A stunning brace from Marcus Rashford consigned Eddie Howe's side to a 2-1 loss that night, despite a late goal from Anthony Gordon, but it felt like an opportunity missed for the Magpies.
For the first half an hour of that match, Newcastle were electric as they fed off the fervent St James' Park atmosphere. The front three of Anthony Elanga, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon caused Barcelona's highline all kinds of problems with their pace in behind.
Elanga, who has largely struggled since his £55million move from Nottingham Forest in the summer, enjoyed arguably his best performance of his time at Newcastle on the night as he terrorised left-back Gerard Martin.
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On the night, Elanga should have had two assists which, who knows, may have propelled United to famous Champions League victory.
A lightning quick run in the first half saw him get in behind the Barcelona defence and his cut-back was begging for Anthony Gordon to bury the ball in the back of the net.
The England forward kicked the air rather than the ball and a chance that looked harder to miss went begging.
Later in the first half, Elanga blitzed past Martin again. This time his brilliant ball across the face of the goal was met by Harvey Barnes who somehow found the palm of goalkeeper Joan Garcia's hands rather than the back of the net.
With Alejandro Balde out injured, Martin is expected to start at left-back again tomorrow and Howe has a huge opportunity to exploit that by starting Elanga against him.
Newcastle winger Anthony Elanga impressed against Barcelona
Newcastle winger Anthony Elanga impressed against Barcelona(Image: 2025 Newcastle United)
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And it could offer the Swedish international a much needed platform to kickstart his Newcastle career. Despite scoring six goals and registering 12 assists last season for Forest, he has just one goal and two assists to his name this term.
But he will surely take confidence from the fact he skewered the Barcelona defence with his pace back in September and, if he does so again, he could hold the keys to victory.
If he does, his struggles of the past six months will quickly be forgotten.
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