Newcastle vs Barcelona at St James' Park was one of the most exciting fixtures of the Champions League round of 16 1st leg games, and it ended with Hansi Flick's side scoring in the end to earn a point against Eddie Howe's Magpies. The end to the game was a devastating one for Eddie Howe and Newcastle, as they'll now have to put up one of their greatest ever performances under him at the Spotify Camp Nou to qualify for the next stage of the UCL. We feel that Eddie Howe made one huge mistake in the game, and that could end up shattering Newcastle's European dreams.
Newcastle were dominant against Barcelona despite being unable to seal victory in the end
Newcastle were clearly the better side in their Champions League game against Barcelona, and many might even argue that it is quite unfair they had to settle for a draw in the end. However, football is a cruel game, and the penalty given to Barcelona was a fair one as well. In the end, Lamine Yamal scored the 96th minute equaliser to cancel out Harvey Barnes' 86th minute goal.
A look at the stats of the game will show you that Newcastle were way better than Barcelona. Eddie Howe's side had a total of 16 shots in the game compared to Barcelona's 10, with 5 of those being on target. Another notable statistic is that despite having only 46% possession compared to Barca's 54%, Eddie Howe's side made a total of 317 passes in the game, just 10 less than the Blaugrana. This also shows us their dominance on the ball whenever they had it. Newcastle also had 9 corners compared to Barca's 4.
Eddie Howe's side were brilliant in defense as well, especially Lewis Hall, who put up an outstanding display throughout the game to deny any goalscoring opportunity for Lamine Yamal during open play, although the Spaniard had the final laugh in the end.
What was the big mistake Eddie Howe made against Barcelona that could see Newcastle crash out of the Champion League?
One of the biggest surprises when the Newcastle team news came out was the absence of Anthony Gordon in the starting eleven, as he was instead on the bench. The apparent cause for Gordon's absence was due to him having an illness. However, the English winger still came on from the bench and still played for over 24 minutes.
Considering the importance of the fixture, we feel that Gordon could've pushed himself to play for over 45 minutes. Thus, the biggest blunder Eddie Howe made was not starting an in-form Gordon in the game, at least for the first 45 minutes of the game. This could've given Newcastle a much better and effective start to their game. At the minimum, the English manager could've had him come from the beginning of the second half, but he instead reduced the player's contribution to a meagre 24-minute cameo.
Anthony Gordon has been arguably Newcastle's best player in the Champions League this season. In fact, he's only behind Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe in the UCL top scorers list with 10 goals, just 3 behind Mbappé. Gordon's highlight performance so far this season was in the UCL as well, when he scored 4 goals against Qarabag in the 1st leg of the UCL Play-off.
Gordon is also now Eddie Howe's first-choice striker for the team ahead of Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa. It was William Osula, the 22 year old Danish forward, who started the game in Gordon's absence as well. This was the biggest proof of the new striker signings not being rated at all by Howe as it stands.
Can Newcastle qualify for the Champions League Quarter Finals?
We feel there's absolutely no chance for Eddie Howe's Newcastle side to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League. Their chances would've been extremely slim according to us even if they went to the Nou Camp with a 1-0 victory. At 1-1 aggregate, we feel Hansi Flick's side should get an easy win.
