Newcastle United latest news: Newcastle United and Barcelona played out a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park.
Newcastle United will feel robbed of yet another famous European win - this time against Barcelona as Eddie Howe’s side were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park.
The Magpies poured blood, sweat and tears into a full throttle performance against the European giants, only for a succession of game-changing decisions by referee Marco Guida to completely change the complexion of the tie. Malcik Thiaw’s clumsy foul in the final seconds aside, Newcastle can look back on that performance, like they did in Paris in November 2023, with real pride and with the hope that maybe, just maybe, they can settle scores at the Camp Nou next week.
They are, of course, not out of the tie, but Lamine Yamal’s late penalty will be a kick in the gut before their trip to Spain. Yamal, for the most part at St James’ Park, was a bystander and spent most of the night trying and failing to get past Lewis Hall.
The battle between the young Spaniard and Hall was the talking point heading into Tuesday night’s game. Hall clearly won that one and that should have been game set and match.
Such was Yamal’s frustrations at being unable to best his opposite number that he took out Hall off the ball during the first-half. Guida, who previously booked Sandro Tonali for a similar foul, inexplicably kept his cards in his pocket.
Failing to give Yamal a yellow card at that moment was a baffling decision and one that may have permanently altered the trajectory of the tie. Had Yamal been shown a yellow card, then he would have been banned for the second-leg.
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As it is, Yamal can play at the Camp Nou. You would be a brave person not to back him to once again have a major say in that game.
Newcastle United proud but frustrated against Barcelona
Too often this season Newcastle United have failed to deliver when it really matters, but for 93 minutes on Tuesday night they did just that. Frustrations at the end of the match from the hosts largely reared their head because of just how close they got to a famous win.
“I thought we were outstanding,” Howe told TNT Sports post-match. “A really, really good performance.
“We kept the intensity up. The moment at the end takes that in a negative light but one of our best performances.”
The harsh reality facing Newcastle United is because of that last minute penalty, they now have to go to the Camp Nou and avoid defeat if they want any chance of progressing to the quarter finals. Taking into account their last Champions League campaign, they have won just two of eight games away from home in Europe - with those victories coming against the unfancied duo of Qarabag and Union Saint-Gilloise.
The Tofiq Bahramov Stadium or Lotto Park the Camp Nou is not. European nights and ties do not get bigger than this and despite everything else, they have hope.
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