Newcastle United will host Barcelona at St James' Park in the opening match of the 2025-2026 Champions League.
Coach Eddie Howe's team is considered to have the most difficult schedule among Premier League representatives in the League Phase.
After the clash with Barca, the "Magpies" will visit the reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain and Bayer Leverkusen in turn. In addition, they have to face other formidable opponents such as Benfica, Union Saint-Gilloise, PSV, Marseille and Athletic Bilbao.
Newcastle's form in the Champions League is not too good as they have only won 1 of their last 8 matches (3 draws, 4 losses). However, that only win came against PSG (4-1) at home in the group stage of the 2023-2024 season.
This season, Howe also has to face the problem of personnel on the attack line when Alexander Isak joined Liverpool in a record deal in England. The void left by the Swedish striker will be expected to be in the hands of new signings Nick Woltemade, Yoanne Wissa and Anthony Elanga.
On the other side of the front line, Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski all scored twice in Barcelona's 6-0 win over Valencia in La Liga last weekend.
Therefore, despite the absence of Lamine Yamal, Hansi Flick's potential attack is still fully capable of attacking.
In terms of head-to-head record, Newcastle won 3-2 against Barcelona in September 1997. However, they have lost all 3 recent matches against their opponents.
The upcoming match will be the fifth meeting between the two sides, but the first since March 2003. At that time, Barcelona won 2-0 at St James' Park thanks to goals from Patrick Kluivert and Thiago Motta.
Link to watch the live match between Newcastle vs Barcelona:
https://tv360.vn/tv/tv360-plus-1?ch=2554&ev=62737&es=1&col=banner§=BANNER&page=home
