Newcastle eye history in CL clash with Barcelona

Eddie Howe has challenged Newcastle to produce the performance of a lifetime as they aim to win the “biggest game” in the club’s history against Barcelona on Tuesday.

Howe’s side will make only their second appearance in the Champions League last 16 when the Liga leaders arrive on Tyneside for a highly anticipated first leg clash.

For the first time since 2002-03, when they reached the second group phase, Newcastle are one of the 16 clubs remaining in a Champions League campaign.

But having eased past Azerbaijani underdogs Qarabag in the play-off round, Howe knows Newcastle will have to make a significant step up in class to stun Hansi Flick’s star-studded team.

“We’ve never been in this position in the Champions League before and it’s the best competition there is, so for obvious reasons it’s a massive game in our history,” Howe said.

“We need to approach it that way and we need the supporters to think that way.”

Newcastle famously beat Barca 3-2 thanks to a Faustino Asprilla hat-trick in the clubs’ first Champions League meeting in 1997.

That was the peak of the Magpies’ brief spell as the Premier League’s great entertainers.

Decades in the doldrums followed, reducing the club to laughing stock status under unpopular former owner Mike Ashley.

Those dark days included two relegations to the second tier in 2009 and 2016.

Starved of success for so long, Newcastle have enjoyed a welcome renaissance since their Saudi owners took charge in 2021.

Barca’s visit is the kind of glamour night that Toon Army has dreamt of since the takeover.

Last season, Newcastle ended a 56-year trophy drought by beating Liverpool in the League Cup final.

Now they are hoping to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.

Beating the five-time European champions would be a massive moment in Newcastle’s history, especially as their progress has been in danger of stalling this season.

Newcastle are languishing in 12th in the Premier League and were knocked out of the FA Cup fifth round by Manchester City on Saturday.

Booed off following a 3-2 loss against Brentford at St James’ Park earlier this season, Howe has struggled to balance Newcastle’s ambitions with the reality of financial rules that have restricted the club’s ability to use the vast wealth of their Saudi backers.

Having sold Alexander Isak to Liverpool in September, Newcastle have been unable to reproduce the dynamic form that carried them to silverware and Champions League qualification last season.

Saturday’s game was Newcastle’s 47th of the season and 19th in 63 days, a gruelling schedule that has taken a toll on a squad depleted by injuries.

Howe will try to assemble a fresh line-up against Barcelona having rested Dan Burn, Joelinton and Anthony Gordon for the Manchester City clash.

“I don’t think we’ve got the strength at the moment to make loads of changes and keep the same strength in our performance,” Howe conceded.

Liverpool’s Premier League title defence collapsed during a horrific run of results from late September, and they face a battle even to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Now Arne Slot’s side head back to Istanbul, where they lost 1-0 to Turkish champions Galatasaray during the league phase.

A deep run in the Champions League would be a major boost for Slot, who has come under fire from frustrated fans during Liverpool’s slump. Significantly, German playmaker Florian Wirtz made his return from a back injury as a late substitute in Friday’s FA Cup win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Slot played down concerns over Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister after the World Cup winner limped off.

Agence France-Presse