Overview
One of the most notable matches of the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 this week is the reunion between Newcastle United and Barcelona at St. James' Park.
The two teams once faced each other at Tyneside in the group stage in September last year. At that time, the match was heavily marked by English football when Marcus Rashford scored a double to help Barcelona win 2-1, and Anthony Gordon scored a late consolation goal for the home team.
After that match, Barcelona continued to maintain impressive form and finished the group stage in fifth place, thereby winning direct admission to the round of 16. Coach Hansi Flick's team also has a remarkable record against Premier League representatives in the Champions League.
Specifically, Barcelona has faced English clubs 33 times in knockout matches and won 10/12 recent matches since 2014. In addition, the Catalan team also passed the round of 16 in all five recent encounters with English teams, most recently winning against Chelsea with a total score of 4-1 in 2018.
Barca's form in recent times has also been quite stable. They finished the group stage with a 4-1 victory over Copenhagen at the end of January and since then have only lost one match.
Barcelona's only defeat came in the Copa del Rey semi-finals when they lost to Atletico Madrid with a total score of 3-4. However, Hansi Flick's team quickly regained confidence when they defeated Athletic Bilbao 1-0 in La Liga at the weekend, with a decisive goal from young talent Lamine Yamal.
In the opposite direction, Newcastle only ranked 12th in the group stage and had to participate in the knockout play-offs. However, coach Eddie Howe's team convincingly overcame this challenge when defeating Qarabag with a total score of 9-3.
In the first leg, Anthony Gordon shone brightly with 4 goals helping Newcastle win 6-1. In the second leg, goals from Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Sven Botman helped the "Magpies" continue to win 3-2 to win a ticket to the round of 16.
This streak of results helps Newcastle set their longest unbeaten record in the Champions League with 5 consecutive unbeaten matches (3 wins, 2 draws). In fact, Howe's team has only lost one of their last 9 matches in the European arena (6 wins, 2 draws), which was a 1-2 defeat at Marseille in November 2025.
Notably, Newcastle is also the team that has led the longest time in the Champions League this season with a total of 565 minutes and 36 seconds.
However, Newcastle's performance in domestic leagues is unstable. After a resounding victory over Qarabag, they lost to Everton 2-3 in the Premier League, before promptly regaining their spirit with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Manchester United.
However, instability continued to appear at the weekend when Newcastle were defeated 3-1 by Manchester City in the 5th round of the FA Cup, thereby ending their journey in this tournament.
If they want to gain an advantage against Barcelona, Newcastle will have to rely heavily on Anthony Gordon. The English striker has scored 10 goals in the Champions League this season and is the main striker of the Northeast England team.
In Champions League history, only 2 players have scored more goals for an English club in a season: Erling Haaland (12 goals for Man City in the 2022-2023 season) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (12 goals for Man United in the 2002-2003 season).
On Barcelona's side, attention will be focused on Marcus Rashford - who is in high form in Blaugrana colors. The English player has scored 5 goals and had 8 assists in the Champions League this season, equal to Fermin Lopez in both indicators.
Head-to-head record
In terms of head-to-head history, Barcelona is clearly dominant. The two teams have met five times in the Champions League and the Catalan team has won four of them, including the group stage match at the beginning of the season.
Newcastle's only victory over Barcelona took place in the first meeting between the two teams in September 1997, when the "Magpies" won 3-2 at St. James' Park.
Score prediction: Newcastle 2-3 Barcelona
The match between Newcastle and Barcelona takes place at 3:00 AM on March 11 (Vietnam time).
