'The lads are ready' - Trippier braced for Barcelona battle | OneFootball

The first leg at St. James' Park last week ended all square, with Harvey Barnes' goal cancelled out by Lamine Yamal's late, late penalty, meaning the clash in Catalonia is finely balanced.

But their performance on Tyneside, which was followed by a fine away win at Chelsea in the Premier League at the weekend, sees Eddie Howe go into the game with a positive mindset.

Trippier - who won La Liga with Atlético Madrid in 2020/21 and played in the Champions League final for Tottenham Hotspur in 2019 - is used to preparing for big fixtures.

And he told reporters: "We feel really confident. We've had a mixed season; the Chelsea result was massive for us. Seeing players come back, seeing Bruno (Guimarães) come back, there's a really good feeling around the place.

"So we come here calm, relaxed, looking forward to the game tomorrow. It's a big opportunity and we know the rewards that we can get if we put in a good performance.

"I've been lucky enough to play here three times before, with three different clubs. I've played here quite a lot of times; to be honest the players don't really ask much about the stadium or whatever. If you look in our dressing room, the players have played in massive games, massive occasions.

"It'll be great opportunity. The majority of the lads have never played in this stadium - I don't know if it's just myself - but a great occasion for the lads. We're looking forward to training later and getting a feel for the place. It'll be an exciting game tomorrow that we're all looking forward to.

"I've been lucky enough to play in La Liga but I think the Champions League's totally different to the Premier League. Physically, it's totally different.

"The Champions League's all about fine margins, especially at this stage of the tournament. It's tactical, but Barcelona are a physical team as well - they've got some very physical players. Technically, it speaks for itself but we've got to think about our strengths, how we can hurt them.

"It's going to be a good game, an entertaining game, two teams attacking to win the game to go through to the next round."

Trippier, 35, was asked what bearing it could have on the game that the average age of the Newcastle squad was considerably higher than that of the Barcelona squad.

"I'm not that old!," he joked. "We've got an experienced team, you look at Barcelona and they've got young, very talented players, but in the two games we've played against Barcelona I think we've shown we can go toe-to-toe with anybody, especially the game that we drew 1-1.

"I thought we played very well but of course coming here's going to be different. But we have to have that same mindset, that same intensity to go at Barcelona, to attack Barcelona, to win the game.

"I think the most important thing is, when you come to places like this, at stages in the Champions League you need to stay in the game.

"You need to be calm because it's going to be a good atmosphere. It always is, every time I've played here.

"But the lads are ready. I don't really need to say much. We've got a lot of experience in our dressing room now. We've been in massive situations in the Champions League and tomorrow's going to be no different. We know the rewards if we put in a good performance, stick to the manager's game plan, and I feel we've got the players to do that."