Why Barcelona Visiting Newcastle Could Be Trouble | OneFootball

Kickoff: 3:00 PM ET St. James’ Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EnglandStreaming on Paramount+

Barça supporters will have to trade their cava and clara for pints of Newcastle’s famous brown ale when they travel up to Tyneside for Thursday’s Champions League fixture.

Barça’s State

Hansi Flick will be without a number of players: Alejandro Balde, Pablo Gavi, Marc-André ter Stegen and most impactfully, Lamine Yamal. This removes Youth from his attacking Y-P-E trifecta; Raphinha (Prime) and Robert Lewandowski (Experience) are fit and ready to start. They scored a brace each in a 6 – 0 annihilation of Valencia on Sunday. Filling Yamal’s Youth spot has been 22-year old Fermín López, who scored Sunday’s third brace.

There are no additional issues impacting the rest of the squad, outside of expected performance. The defensive line isn’t the most resolute (they’ve already conceded 3 goals in 4 La Liga games), but should be able to handle Newcastle. A juicy matchup to watch is Gerard Martin against Anthony Elanga. Two open questions surround Marcus Rashford and Marc Bernal. Will the former touch grass on English soil? And will Flick give the young pivot Bernal a few minutes as he eases into full match form?

Newcastle

For Newcastle this is a welcome return to the competition. Two years ago they were outclassed and outplayed in the old group stage format, where they drew Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and eventual runners-up Borussia Dortmund. Not that Barcelona is any easier, but at least they only play them once, and at home to boot.

This is the stiffest competition for the Magpies in the 2025 fixtures, upcoming opponents are: Union St.-Gilloise (A), Benfica (H), Athletic Bilbao (H), Marseille (A). The order of the day will be about on-field composure. In this rejiggered group competition, losses don’t carry the same devastating impact, but big goal differentials can come back to haunt you.

Newcastle will miss newly signed forward Yoanna Wissa, even if they are quietly pleased that the injury he sustained playing for the D.R. Congo is less severe than originally thought. Jacob Ramsey is also out. The two Anthonys (Gordon and Elanga) should start on either flank of towering Nick Woltemade, but otherwise the starting eleven is nearly identical to the one that beat Wolverhampton on Saturday. But let’s be honest… Wolves are no Barcelona.

The Hooligan Take

St. James’ Park is unquestioningly a cathedral to the beautiful game, but it will also be uncomfortable for Barcelona. Home field advantage for Newcastle will give them a boost, but ultimately not enough to take all three points. They’ll score, quite possibly first, but Barça’s potent attack will prevail.

Final score: Newcastle 2 – 4 Barcelona.