Newcastle boss Eddie Howe ready for Barcelona challenge – ‘We believe in ourselves’ | OneFootball

Newcastle United are gearing up their biggest match of the season as they take on Barcelona at Camp Nou on Wednesday evening.

The Magpies had successfully held Barça to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at St. James Park. Now, they have the daunting task of beating Barcelona at their home turf, where Hansi Flick’s men have enjoyed a near-perfect record.

Speaking ahead of this crucial match, Newcastle United coach Eddie Howe talked about facing Barcelona while also giving an update on team fitness.

What Eddie Howe said ahead of Barcelona clash

Howe was asked about facing a top team like Barcelona and how the Magpies plan to navigate this challenge.

“We have a group of players with a lot of experience, and they’ve played many big matches,” Howe replied.

“We want the size of this match to be a motivator for the players and to help us develop. Of course, we can’t back down or be afraid. From my side, it’s about putting together the right plan,” he added.

The Newcastle United manager pointed out the importance of facing Barcelona’s strengths head-on.

“We must deal with their strengths, and at the same time try to deliver our best moments,” he said.

“I think if we look at the two matches we played against Barcelona, we delivered very good periods of play and created scoring opportunities, but we didn’t beat them, and that’s the challenge,” he added.

However, Howe pointed out that Newcastle United will approach this game just like any other, rather than being fully concentrated on just this one clash.

“It’s just another match. The process we go through before every game is the same regardless of the opponent or the competition. We try to approach every match as if it were a UEFA Champions League final. We’ll do the work in the same way.

“We’re in a different atmosphere, one we’re not used to before, and we’ll enjoy the match when it comes, but we’ll only truly enjoy it if we deliver what we know we need to deliver, and I think we’re in a good position to achieve that,” he said.

When asked about team atmosphere before the Barcelona match, Howe affirmed that the confidence remains on top.

“The players are probably at the highest level of confidence this season. I think our recent performance has been very strong.

“The players in our team are delivering very high levels, so we hope we reach the top at the right time, but we need everything to go our way tomorrow.

“We don’t underestimate the difficulty of the task, but at the same time we believe in ourselves,” he said.

Howe went on to offer team news ahead of this important fixture, confirming that Lewis Miley is not with the team while Joe Willock remains a doubt.

“Unfortunately, Lewis Miley is not with the team. He trained at home today. As for Joe, he travelled with us, and we will evaluate him in today’s training. We hope he is doing well,” he said.

Finally, Newcastle United coach offered an update on the club’s star midfielder, Sandro Tonali, who has been a standout performer for the team but has missed the last game against Chelsea.

“We will assess his situation today. Today is the first day we see him, so it’s an opportunity for him — we hope — to train if he feels strong enough, and then we will make a decision regarding his participation in tomorrow’s match,” he concluded.