Newcastle manager identifies stopping star midfielder as the key to beating Barcelona | OneFootball

Barcelona under Hansi Flick have carved out a reputation as one of football’s most ruthless sides in Europe over the past year.

Later today, Newcastle United will have the opportunity to play host to the defending Spanish champions and it will be a massive game for both sides as they look to kick off their UEFA Champions League campaign to the perfect start.

For Newcastle, however, the challenge is tangibly more difficult given the sheer depth of the squad Barcelona have and the quality of players in Flick’s starting XI. One such player who will be key tonight is the team’s star midfielder Pedri Gonzalez.

Eddie Howe’s key

As relayed in a recent report by MARCA, Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe maintained a close eye on Barcelona’s recent win over Valencia, and what caught his eye was Pedri’s extensive involvement in the buildup and his creative prowess.

The manager, thus, sees the key to defeating Barcelona to be in restricting the Spanish midfielder who has been the team’s most important midfielder for over a year now.

Barcelona’s midfield maestro. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Having marked Pedri as a big target to neutralise, it is clear that Newcastle will come out specifically marking the midfielder and putting pressure on him in possession.

Breaking Pedri, after all, will undoubtedly break Barcelona’s possession chain.

While the strategy sounds easy on paper, Pedri is perhaps the most difficult player in world football to dispossess. His spatial awareness, creativity and composure under pressure make him a very difficult target to man-mark.

So far this season, Pedri has started all four of Barcelona’s La Liga games and averages 88 minutes per game. In that duration, he has scored one goal, created one big chance and averages two key passes per game.