Newcastle United FC vs FC Barcelona
Competition/Round: 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, League Phase, Matchday 1
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Lamine Yamal (out)
Newcastle Outs & Doubts: Yoane Wissa, Jacob Ramsey (out)
Date/Time: Thursday, September 18, 2025, 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Friday)
Venue: St. James’ Park, Newcastle, England
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (SWE)
VAR: Jérôme Brisard (FRA)
How to watch on TV: TUDN (USA), TNT Sports 1 (UK),
SuperSport (Nigeria), SONY TEN 2 (India), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: Paramount+ (USA), DAZN (Canada), discovery+ (UK), Sony LIV (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a sensational victory over Valencia at the weekend to return to winning ways in La Liga, Barcelona are in England to begin a new European journey as the Blaugrana face Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Thursday night in Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League’s League Phase.
Barça come into this one with their spirits lifted by a brilliant team performance against Valencia, which helped to quiet the noise after an underwhelming first month and show that Hansi Flick’s team is still among the very best in Europe. Now they hope to show that in the continent’s top competition once again, and go one better than last season to book a place in next year’s Final in Budapest.
It is important to remember, however, that Valencia played really poorly on the night and have become Barça’s punching bag over the last year, so the Catalans still need to pass a truly tough test to show their strength. And it doesn’t get much tougher than the next challenge: Newcastle away promises to be the most difficult road trip for Barça in the League Phase, and Eddie Howe’s side have everything they need to cause an upset on Thursday.
It all starts with Howe, a brilliant tactician who always puts together great gameplans, especially in big games. He also has a pretty good squad at his disposal, with tough, strong, physical, tall players and a midfield filled with talent, desire and work rate. Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton form a great trio, and whoever wins the midfield battle has a pretty good chance of winning the game.
Newcastle moved on from a very ugly and public dispute with Alexander Isak and replaced him with promising German striker Nick Woltemade, who made an immediate impact on his debut by scoring a header and providing great all-around forward play against Wolves at the weekend.
But the true game-changer for the Magpies is their crowd: St. James’ Park has not only one of the best atmospheres in English football, but one of the great environments in all of Europe. The fans are wild, and they are at their very best in big games. It’s been almost impossible for England’s Top 6 teams to win there lately, and one of their most famous results since Howe took over was the 4-1 destruction of PSG two years ago in which they blitzed the visitors for 90 minutes and the crowd truly felt like a 12th man on the pitch.
Newcastle will press high and hard early, and they are a giant threat on set pieces thanks to the literal giants in their lineup. They also have some really fast and skilled wingers who will be ready to take advantage of Barça’s high line and offside trap, and this game has all the potential to be like the insane League Phase clash between Barça and Benfica in Lisbon in which the Blaugrana somehow came back to win 5-4 but were pushed to the limit in every phase of the game.
This is about as tough a test as Barça could ask for, and we’ll learn a lot about Flick’s team once this is over. Every second will matter, the crowd will be insane, and Barça must be prepared to walk through hell.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Cubarsí, Christensen, Martín; De Jong, Pedri; Raphinha, Fermín, Rashford; Lewandowski
Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Schär, Burn, Livramento; Guimarães, Tonali, Joelinton; Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon
PREDICTION
I truly can’t wait for this one, and I think it’s the perfect test at the perfect time for this team. And I believe this is one they will pass: 3-2 Barça in a crazy game.
