Five things we learnt from Newcastle United vs Athletic Bilbao | OneFootball

It was Newcastle United up against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night.

A pair of headers from Dan Burn and Joelinton powered Newcastle to victory as they defeated Athletic Club in the Champions League.

Dan Burn put the Magpies ahead from a well worked set-piece delivered by Kieran Trippier.

Trippier has set up Burn’s last three goals.

Prior to the game, Burn said he was confident that he will continue to play even with Lewis Hall returning. With the quality Lewis Hall has, Burn will have to carry on performing to keep his spot.

Newcastle’s new set-piece coach, Martin Mark, arrived in July 2025. Since Mark’s arrival, there have been small glimpses of improvement in the set-piece department. However, they have not yet reached the heights that they are capable of. Hopefully, this kickstarts a new set-piece era for United.

Gordon’s early exit

Eddie Howe was forced into an early substitution that saw Anthony Gordon make way for Jacob Murphy in the 41st minute.

Gordon was withdrawn at half time with a hip injury against West Ham, Newcastle’s number ten seemingly aggravated the same issue against Athletic Club.

It was a 40 minutes to forget for Gordon, who struggled to have any impact upon the game, He was dispossessed three times and misplaced four passes in the opening half.

The Champions League Gordon and the Premier League Gordon have been complete polar opposites, but his 40 minutes on Wednesday night, were similar to how he has started his Premier League campaign.

Howe goes with his favourites

After a shocking performance against West Ham, Howe had a big headache and some equally big decisions to make.

He stated after the West Ham defeat that he could have subbed any of the players.

Newcastle fans are used to a calm, cool and collected Eddie Howe.

Many fans were hoping for wholesale changes and expecting them after Howe’s outburst about his side, Eddie only made two changes with Trippier and Barnes coming into the starting 11.

Howe’s favourites provided for him in this Champions League victory, with Burn and Joelinton delivering the three crucial points.

Three wins, three clean sheets

Since Newcastle’s opening Champions League defeat against Barcelona, the Magpies have got the better of Union S-G (4-0 win), Benfica (3-0 win) and Athletic Club (2-0 win).

Newcastle have done everything right so far in the Champions League and have set themselves up well to reach the knockout stages. The Mags still have to face Marseille (Away), Leverkusen (Away), PSV (Home) and finally PSG (Away).

This fine form has seen them rise to sixth in the Champions League table above the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Barcelona and Dortmund.

The only English sides that sit above them are Man City and Arsenal. The incredible European position they have got into adds to the frustration of the Premier League.

The recruitment in the summer was to compete on all four fronts (Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup). They are cruising in the Champions League and Carabao Cup, however, ultimately they are failing in the Premier League.

Does victory against Athletic Club reduce the pressure for Brentford on Sunday?

No, Newcastle can’t afford to go into the next international break with anything less than three points against Brentford.