Maybe not an easy win but Marcus Rashford’s goals were enough to seal the win for the Catalans as they visited Saint James Park for their opening fixture of the Champions League.
Gordon gave the home side some respite when he scored from a Murphy assist but that glimmer of hope was snuffed out with some Garcia heroics and fine defending from Barcelona.
At the start of the match, it looked like it was going to be Newcastle’s game. The Magpies kept hammering from the get go with Barnes coming close to score twice in the game and being denied by Garcia. Everything was going as planned for Newcastle and it looked like the goal was all that was left in their game.
The breakthrough came when Rashford headed a Jules Kounde cross far from the reach of the Barca goalkeeper. With his goal, Rashford became only the second Englishman to score on his Champions League debut for a non-English club vs a Premier League club. The first player is Harry Kane when he scored against Manchester United in September 2023.
But he was not done for the night.
After a breakdown of play, Rashford found space and let out a vicious strike. The dipping ball was far from Nick Pope’s reach and on hitting the crossbar it was already game over for the home side.
Soon after the goal, it was Raphinha at the end of a classic Barcelona counter attack but his effort didn’t trouble the keeper as it sailed wide of the left post.
Gordon scored the only goal for the home side after a low cross from Murphy which he safely guided into the far end of the post away from Garcia. With seven minutes on the clock, it looked like Newcastle had enough time to draw the tie level. But it was not meant to be.
