Lamine Yamal’s penalty from the last kick of the match handed Barcelona a 1-1 draw with Newcastle at St James’ Park.
Harvey Barnes’ 86th-minute goal gave Newcastle a famous victory over the La Liga giants and handed them a valuable advantage heading into the game at Camp Nou, but Malik Tiau’s unnecessary challenge on Dani Olmo late in stoppage time gave Barca a late lifeline.
Yamal made no mistake from the spot, sending Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way and giving Barcelona the advantage in the last-16 tie ahead of next week’s second leg in Spain.
Lamine Yamal equalizes for Barcelona from the penalty spot
The draw was tough for Newcastle, who had been in the lead for much of the match.
Will Osula might have given the hosts the perfect start in the sixth minute when he slipped behind the visitors’ defence, fed by Lewis Hall’s pass, but his shot was delayed and Gerard Martin recovered to block his attempt.
Saturday, March 14th 5pm
5:30pm kickoff
Barça started to impress as Ramsdale smashed Yamal’s drive into the side netting, but it was Newcastle who had the better moment when Osla headed home Anthony Elanga’s cross after Dan Byrne flicked out Kieran Trippier with a cross-field pass.
After the break, Raphinha’s cross in the 66th minute was met by Robert Lewandowski with all his might, and eight minutes later Barnes’ shot went wide and Joelinton brought the ball home, but the goal was ruled out for offside and Newcastle’s celebrations were cut short.
With time running out, Barnes got substitute Jacob Murphy’s cross at the right time, but Olmo went down under a challenge from Thiau with seconds left and Italian referee Marco Guida pointed to the spot for Yamal to break Newcastle’s heart.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring late in stoppage time of the second half
Howe: One of Newcastle’s best matches
Harvey Barnes celebrates goal with teammates
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe told TNT Sport:
“I thought we were outstanding. It was a really, really good performance. We continued to maintain our intensity. The last minute takes it as a negative, but it was one of our best performances.”
Regarding Barcelona’s last-gasp penalty: “I think it was soft, but Malik made contact.
“We couldn’t afford to concede that goal because we kept ourselves in shape. We’ll think about it, but we don’t want to overturn the quality of our previous 93 minutes.”
“Before we scored, we thought we had enough to score. The game proved what we are capable of, but we know that we probably have to contribute more to the opponent’s stadium. We can do that, but we will have to give our best.”
“It’s my job to try to pick them up. Unfortunately we’ve had to do that a few times this season, but there’s never any question of our strength of character. By the time the next game comes we’ll be ready.”
“We believe in ourselves and our abilities and we showed it today.”
“Hall will anchor Yamal and probably also the left-back position for England.”
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones analyzes this as follows:
It was to be a daunting test for Lewis Hall to face the formidable brilliance of Lamine Yamal under the brightest lights in a Champions League knockout match. Rather, it was a declaration that he was England’s best left-back. And at a certain distance.
If England’s left-back position was still up for debate heading into the World Cup, Hall might have slammed the door.
Hall performed with remarkable maturity and authority. Yamal rarely took a kick unless he was awarded a decisive penalty in the final action of the match. But Hall couldn’t do anything about it.
His defense against Yamal would have been impressive enough on its own, but Hall’s performance had another layer entirely. As Newcastle pushed forward, Hall became their most dangerous weapon.
He ran up the left side at an explosive pace and repeatedly switched from defense to offense. Barcelona simply could not match his combination of power and precision in his forward bursts.
His final ball was as impressive as his defensive work.
His five chances, created more than any other player on the pitch, told the story of a full-back who played with the confidence of an experienced playmaker.
Creating the most chances in the game while also containing one of the most dangerous wingers in world football makes this argument difficult to ignore.
Hall is no longer just a competitor. He could be England’s answer.
The story of the game in terms of statistics…
Newcastle extend their unbeaten record in Europe…
Newcastle extended their longest unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League to six games (3 wins, 3 draws) and have only lost one of their last 10 games (6 wins, 3 draws).
Barcelona scored their 47th penalty in the Champions League, only Bayern Munich (51) and Real Madrid (50) had more (excluding shootouts).
Only Kylian Mbappé (14 goals), Anthony Gordon (12 goals) and Julian Alvarez (10 goals) have been directly involved in more goals in this season’s Champions League than Newcastle’s Harvey Barnes (9-6 goals, 3 assists).
Newcastle teammate Gordon (15 goals) is the only English player to have scored more goals in all competitions for a Premier League side this season than Barnes (14).
Flick happy with Newcastle goal
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick showed glimpses of his brilliance in a 2-1 win in the first group game at St James’s Park in September and ultimately showed something worth his efforts.
However, they had been under Kosh for a long time and were happy to leave on equal terms.
“If you had asked me before the 1-1 game, I would have always been happy,” Flick said.
“When we had the ball, we didn’t play well. We lost too many balls and made easy mistakes. And that’s what Newcastle want. The transitions when they received the ball were great and it wasn’t easy because they have a lot of dynamic, very fast players.”
“But the last thing I really appreciated about my team was that we played defense together. Our defense performed really well today.”
When is the knockout stage?
Round of 16 Second Leg: March 17th-18th
Quarterfinals: April 7th-8th, 14th-15th
Semi-finals: April 28-29, May 5-6
Final: May 30th (Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary)
