Champions League front-loaded opportunity for Newcastle United | OneFootball

The Champions League is up and running for Newcastle United.

Unlucky not to get a point at home to Barcelona.

That then followed by a comprehensive 4-0 away victory over Union S-G.

This is only the second season of the new 36 Swiss League format of the Champions League, with all clubs playing eight different opponents, four of them at home and four away.

To an extent it appears to make things less predictable than the old four team groups, playing three clubs both home and away. Those groups often decided very quickly, with the top two seeded clubs invariably overwhelming the ‘lesser’ two, so that after three of the six group games there was little doubt which two clubs were going to progress.

This is how the 2025/26 Champions League table currently looks on Monday (13 October 2025) morning:

As you can see, Newcastle United currently in 11th place in the Champions League table, one point off a top eight automatic qualifying place.

You might quite reasonably be saying that nothing much can be taken from how the table looks so early on, especially from an NUFC perspective.

However, in only a few weeks time, suddenly it will already be the halfway point with four of the eight rounds of matches played.

How it has worked out for Newcastle United, the way the matches have fallen, is that a massive front-loaded opportunity has fallen the way of Eddie Howe and his players.

Newcastle with three of their first four games at home, plus three of the four matches very winnable.

A point (or more…) would have been a huge bonus against Barcelona BUT the next three games gave United a serious chance of nine points on the board at the halfway point.

These are the remaining six Newcastle United Champions League matches:

Tuesday 21st October: Newcastle United vs Benfica (kick-off 8pm BST)

Wednesday 5th November: Newcastle United vs Athletic Club Bilbao (kick-off 8pm BST)

Tuesday 25th November: Olympique Marseille vs Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm BST)

Wednesday 10th December: Bayer Leverkusen vs Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm BST)

Wednesday 21st January: Newcastle United vs PSV Eindhoven (kick-off 8pm BST

Wednesday 28th January: Paris Saint-Germain vs Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm BST)

I think these Benfica and Bilbao home matches are seriously good opportunities for Newcastle United.

Benfica lost 3-2 in a shock defeat at home to Qarabag and immediately sacked their manager, after appointing Mourinho they then went to Chelsea and looked poor when losing 1-0 and offering minimal threat.

Whilst Bilbao lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal and were then hammered 4-1 away by Borussia Dortmund.

If Newcastle United play to the levels they managed overall against Barcelona and Union S-G. no reason why these next two quick succession home Champions League games won’t deliver another six points for Newcastle United.

Remember, the top eight will automatically go through to the last 16 knockout stage. Whilst those finishing 9th to 24th will go into two-legged play-offs to decide the other eight that will make up the final 16.

This is what happened last season in the Swiss League stage of the 2024/25 Champions League, how the table ended up:

As you can see, 12 points guaranteed a team 21st spot or higher.

If Newcastle United can win at home to Benfica and Bilbao, they would only need one win from the last four games to ensure at least 12 points and almost certainly the play-offs as a minimum.

Whilst if Newcastle United are sitting on nine points after four games, very likely that a couple of wins and a draw from the final four games would see NUFC finish in the top eight, based on last season when the clubs finishing sixth to eighth all had 16 points.

With nine points from a possible twelve, Eddie Howe’s side could really attack the away games against Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen, as well as then the home match against PSV.

Whilst even that final game away at PSG, Newcastle were cheated out of a win there two seasons ago with that shocking penalty decision. This time, there could be every chance PSG (already six points from two games) might have already ensured a place in the top eight before facing NUFC, more than possible they’d play a weakened team.

Exciting times at Newcastle United and no reason why this time they can’t progress to the knockout last 16 stage of the Champions League, which they were so unlucky to miss out on two seasons ago.