Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction following Newcastle 2 Athletic Bilbao 0 | OneFootball

Newcastle 2 Athletic Bilbao 0 – Wednesday 5 November 2025 8pm

Instant fan/writer reaction from some of our regular contributors on The Mag.

‘Another great Champions League result taking us up to 6th in the League, pinch me!!

Not at our very best, way better than Sunday but a well deserved European victory with two great goals and throw in a clean sheet too.

A real positive was seeing Lewis Hall back on the pitch.

Hopefully we can take this momentum into our away game on Sunday and go into the international break with a good performance and maybe, just maybe, our first PL away win of the season…’

Billy Miller:

‘Vital victory duly delivered.

Felt we looked off it in the first half but Burn with the best header I’ve seen since… Burn in the cup final, put us ahead.

Much better in the second half and could have got more than the two goals but settled down for the last twenty minutes.

Hall was sprightly when he came on. Huge boost seeing him back.

6th in the league at the halfway point.’

GToon:

‘A decent result and an ok performance in the end.

I wish Eddie would pick players who aren’t ill or injured.

Feel sorry for Gordon who is prepared to put himself thru the pain barrier and then is clearly not fit to play. Ditto with Bruno.

Wissa needs to get a shift on as Big Nick looks like the games are catching up with him.

Pope made some decent saves, coupled with some appalling kick outs straight into touch.

Thiaw was excellent and Hall looked really good when he came on.

Bet BDB was buzzing after that header.

Gonna have to step up a level at Brentford to get anything this weekend.’

Matt Busby said…:

‘Back to winning ways, a very accomplished performance.

Now we aren’t involved in the group of death, it’s pretty obvious that we can more than hold our own against the rest of what Europe has to offer, the sort of sides that the likes of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool routinely swat aside because of their seeding in this competition.

Athletic Bilbao needed to perform like their fans did pre-match but came up well short.

I thought Malick Thiaw was awesome, but a raft of others put in a decent shift, Big Dan Burn with a thunderous header reminiscent of his Wembley effort, Barnes for the cross that set up Joelinton being the most notable moments in a game that we easily won.’

David Punton:

‘Can’t complaint too much as this win moved us to nine points in the Champions League. Pretty good!

It wasn’t all plain sailing though, with the first half far from stellar, bar the headed opener from Dan Burn.

They had the better of us in midfield and we were pinned down for long spells. The post coming to our rescue.

A great goal from the set-piece though. Tripps with a delicious ball and Burn ghosting in to power home unmarked.

Vastly better from United after the break.

Levels were lifted and we had a great spell, with Barnes laying on Joelinton for the crucial second goal.

There was late pressure, as you’d expect, but we held firm.’

Tony Mallabar:

‘2-0.. wasn’t half of it tonight.

I was a bit shocked pre-match with dan burn claiming he had plenty of credit in the bank, as being a first team starter.

Well he certainly proved that with our opener.

Also, just my opinion but woltardae is not a number 9, but definitely a 10 in the waiting.

Gordon is hopelessly out of form and Jacob Murphy proving Elanga needs to up his game x10.

Finally, Kieran Trippier was/is an absolute legend and still part of the process.’

Simon Ritter:

‘A dodgy first 25 minutes despite BDB’s brilliant header from Trippier’s dead ball. Where have we seen that double-act before?

Gordon was losing possession every time he touched the ball. He seemed to aggravate the rumoured hip injury, which might be a blessing. A month on the sidelines, no England call-up, time to get back to his best.

Excellent teamwork, including an overlapping run by Burn that made space for Barnes to cross precisely, allowed Joelinton to bury the second.

The apparent forced replacement of BDB by Hall might also prove to be good news, provided the big man is available to face Brentford.

There were still too many misplaced passes and wrong options, which forced Pope to save impressively more than once, but this was so much better than last Sunday.

‘Another win and another clean sheet in the Champions League.

Despite the indifference in Newcastle’s Premier League performances, we have been marching on comfortably in the cup competitions this season.

All eyes on Sunday now to see if we can finally turn the corner in the league.’

Newcastle 2 Athletic Bilbao 0 – Wednesday 5 November 2025 8pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Burn 11, Joelinton 49

Bilbao:

Possession was Newcastle 58% Bilbao 42%

Total shots were Newcastle 8 Bilbao 12

Shots on target were Newcastle 4 Bilbao 5

Corners were Newcastle 2 Bilbao 5

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 20 Bilbao 16

Newcastle team v Athletic Bilbao:

Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn (Hall 65), Bruno (Miley 66), Joelinton, Tonali, Gordon (Jacob Murphy 41), Woltemade (Ramsey 83), Barnes (Elanga 66)

Subs: