Barca’s Round of 16 tie took them back to the North East of England and a date with Newcastle United, a team that they’d already beaten on Matchday 1 of this season’s league stage, and against whom they’d won four of the previous five fixtures.
Hansi Flick’s side arrived on the back of a four-game unbeaten run in all competitions, and had progressed in 15 of their last 16 Round of 16 ties.
Therefore, the pressure was all on a Magpies outfit that had beaten Qarabag 9-3 on aggregate in the Champions
League playoff to set this two-legged tie up.
Given they’d lost only two of their previous 32 European home legs (W22, D8) at St. James’ Park, and taking into account Barca’s average away form in 2025/26, the match was set up nicely to be another classic encounter.
Let’s take a look at three talking points from the game…
No punch up front
In the first 45 minutes, particularly, Barca’s attack wasn’t anywhere close to being on the front foot.
Aside from a handful of brief flashes from Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, there really wasn’t anything to get excited about before the official blew his whistle for half-time.
Robert Lewandowski may as well not have been there, and the profligacy from the two wide men and Fermin Lopez against what is a mid-table Premier League side was just not good enough.
Patchwork defence did well against pacy Newcastle attack
When was the last time a Barcelona defence consisted of Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Gerard Martin and Joao Cancelo – a centre-back playing as a right-back, a right-back playing as a left-back… you get the picture.
Against two lightning-fast players in Will Osula and Anthony Elanga, Araujo and Cancelo acquitted themselves well for the most part, whilst Cubarsi and Martin continue to build what’s turning into a reasonably decent central defensive partnership.
A partnership that may lack pace, but has good balance and understanding, and is often calmness personified, with neither player being one who tends to panic under pressure.
Losing a late goal in the manner they did was regrettable, however.
Barca’s midfield struggled for control
Unusually for the Catalans, there wasn’t an awful lot of crisp, quick passing in the midfield areas, even though Newcastle were without captain Bruno Guimaraes.
Pedri was excellent as usual and can be excused from this particular critique, but Marc Bernal wasn’t his usual assured self, and there were long passages of play when the ball was consistently turned over by a Magpies midfield that were up for the battle.
A fair chunk of Barca’s passing through the lines and associated movement was laboured, which gave the hosts more impetus and intent, and that will also need to be addressed in next week’s second leg if the Blaugranes want to progress.
