Brazil legend Neymar pictured during his Barcelona daysplaceholder image
Brazil legend Neymar pictured during his Barcelona days | AFP via Getty Images
Lamine Yamal is aiming to summon his inner Neymar for Barcelona against Newcastle United tonight.
Lamine Yamal is drawing inspiration from Brazil legend Neymar as he prepares to face Newcastle United tonight.
A mouth-watering trip to the Camp Nou is neatly poised following last week’s first leg at St James’ Park. Toon fans were left reeling when Yamal scored a 95th-minute penalty to cancel out Harvey Barnes’ late opener.
Barcelona are the favourites - there is no debate there - but Newcastle will feel they have a chance of upsetting the apple cart. The Catalans will be a different beast at home but Eddie Howe’s men have shown they can hurt them on two occasions this season.
Neymar inspiring Lamine Yamal
One player who was kept quiet last week - Yamal - is locked in ahead of tonight’s clash. While he netted the penalty on Tyneside, Lewis Hall kept the wonderkid quiet over the course of the game.
Hansi Flick rested Yamal as Barca thrashed Sevilla 5-1 at the weekend. The 18-year-old is well aware of the task at hand and posted a Neymar montage on social media last night.
Yamal is the modern-day incarnation of the Brazil legend - who spent four years at Barcelona between 2013 and 2017. Hall - and the Toon backline as a whole - will have to be at their robust best to keep the winger quiet in his own backyard.
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‘We need to be better’ - Hansi Flick
Speaking after the win over Sevilla, Flick has urged his Barca squad to “do better” - or risk being dumped out by Newcastle. He said: “A lot of things were good but at times we did not play with the conviction I wanted to see in my team. This is a huge week and we need to be at 100 per cent on Wednesday against Newcastle United, because otherwise… we are out of the Champions League.
“We need to do things better. There are many things going well but there are situations on the pitch that are not fantastic. We have many games left but we need to play faster, we need to focus, Newcastle is a very good team.
“When we lost possession, (against Sevilla) we could have pressed better. Now the Champions League is coming up and it is important to do well…I think we could have done much better (against Sevilla).”
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