Newcastle United team news v Barcelona: Eddie Howe has made five changes to the side that beat Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday.
The Magpies head into the match having drawn 1-1 with Barcelona at St James’ Park in the last-16 first leg last week. Harvey Barnes’ late strike was cancelled out by Lamine Yamal’s stoppage-time penalty with what proved to be the last kick of the game.
Tonali comes straight back into the starting line-up while Willock drops to the bench.
Ahead of the game, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said about Tonali: “We’ll have a look at him [Tuesday]. It is the first day we’ve seen him. We’ll make a decision [on Wednesday]."
On Willock Howe added: “Joe Willock has travelled with us, we'll have a look at his training today, and he should be fine."
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Five changes for NUFC
Tonali comes in for Willock and there are four more changes made by Howe from the Chelsea match. Anthony Elanga returns to the starting line-up in place of Jacob Murphy.
Joelinton also comes back into the side in place of Nick Woltemade, who drops to the bench. Dan Burn is also in for Sven Botman while Kieran Trippier returns in place of Tino Livramento.
Starting XI v Barcelona: Ramsdale; Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall; Tonali, Ramsey, Joelinton; Elanga, Barnes, Gordon
Subs: Pope, Ruddy, Harris, Botman, Wissa, Osula, Livramento, J.Murphy, Woltemade, Willock, A.Murphy, Neave
Eddie Howe on Barcelona
“I think it’s probably the happiest I’ve been throughout the season,” said the Newcastle boss ahead of Barcelona. “It’s been a season of a lot of change. There was a lot of change in the summer, a lot was spoken about that, and obviously at the start of the season, we struggled to find our rhythm.
“Our relationships in the team were new, or at least some of them were, and I think that took time to settle into the normal patterns that we would work towards. Confidence was affected slightly, and we worked really hard to bring some stability to the team and really focus on performances.
“Of course, we’ve trained when we can this year, it’s been a relentless schedule for us as everyone knows. So, we’ve crammed a lot in in the last couple of months, despite the games that we’ve had.
“I think we’ve seen a bit of reward for that. In the last few weeks, we’ve returned to a really good flow, there’s been a much better feel. Individual performances have returned, and you’ve seen better collective performances as a result. At the right time for us, hopefully we’re entering a good period of form. But it’s still going to be a massive test for us in this game tomorrow.”
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