For a while, Newcastle made this fun, but they did not make it through, all that hope giving way to hurt. By the time the final whistle went at the Camp Nou, as the Barcelona fans sang their anthem and the exhausted men in black and white made their way slowly towards their supporters positioned above a scoreboard that showed 7-2, it seemed almost absurd to say that they had played their part, but they had. In the end, though, history was made by Hansi Flick’s side, not Eddie Howe’s; ultimately, the big night belonged to the hosts, securing an unimaginable result not seen here in three decades.
Howe had said that his side could not and would not shrink at the Camp Nou and, for much of a historic tie that he described as the biggest in their recent history, they didn’t. Not in the first leg, when it had taken a 96th-minute penalty to deny them a victory, and not when they went behind after just six minutes of the second leg; not even when they went behind a second time after 18 minutes. It wasn’t until the third time that it became a step too far. And then, it is true, they were taken to pieces.
The last kick of the first half put them 3-2 down and they must have wished it could have ended there. Barcelona returned ready for business, three more goals in 15 second half minutes made it 6-2, and there was still time for a seventh. That hadn’t seemed possible and, even with a brilliant Barcelona display in the second half, still felt a little cruel.
Being themselves meant going at Barcelona, frightening them, which Newcastle had done for as long as they were allowed. The problem was that’s a game Hansi Flick’s Barcelona embrace too: for all the talk of Cruyff and DNA, he has provided a twist and built a team happy to get up and running, to trade blows in transition, one that shows that life can be good when lived on the edge. That led to a frantic opening half that could have ended with either side leading instead ending with the home side 3-2 up. It also lead, eventually, to a festival of goals, and all of the remaining four were blaugrana.
Newcastle had come flying out from the start, Dan Burn’s shot on the turn the game’s first after two minutes. The first of five first-half goals, though, came almost immediately after, and began with a sharp turn from Lamine Yamal in the centre circle that caused Malik Thiaw to slip. Suddenly in space, the teenager found Raphinha who exchanged passes with Fermín López to bend into the net. A moment later Aaron Ramsdale had to be out fast when López threatened to run free again, but Newcastle’s response was swift.
It came from a right wing that had clearly been targeted, with Lewis Hall bursting out from deep and heading straight at Barcelona. Eric García came to meet him – too far to protect the defence, not far enough to actually make the challenge – so Hall played to Harvey Barnes and kept running on to the return ball, bending behind the central defenders to Anthony Elanga, coming in from the other side, to cut a sharp finish past Joan García to equalise.
Barcelona took less than two minutes to lead again, after Lamine Yamal span and was taken down. Gerard Martín nodded down Raphinha’s free-kick for Marc Bernal to score from five yards. When Eric García was taken off soon after, it was because of an injury, but it could just as easily have been an attempt to close space Newcastle had been running into. If so, it didn’t work. Although Eric García’s replacement, Ronald Araújo, sent the third of three consecutive corners aimed his way into the side netting, Newcastle kept coming and the second equaliser had a familiar genesis.
Not so much because Lamine Yamal gave it away with a backheel, although the pressure applied was familiar, but because against it was Hall and Barnes, always incisive, who set up Elanga to score. Anthony Gordon seemed to be in soon after and Newcastle then appealed for a penalty when João Cancelo lent on Elanga, who had ben released by another sharp ball in behind. Yet if Barcelona were rocking, they were also rolling with this, an open game that lacked control but had plenty of space to run into, and when Lamine Yamal dashed inside superbly, they should have scored. Raphinha’s shot was saved by Ramsdale, the ball somehow going through Robert Lewandowski’s legs. Lamine Yamal, even more unlikely, skied it from five yards.
No one could believe it wasn’t 3-2 then, but with the last kick of the half it was. A gorgeous pass with the outside of the boot from Lamine Yamal found López reaching the byline to pull back. Coming at the far post, Raphinha was pulled back by Kieran Trippier and eventually, having been to the screen for a look, François Letexier gave the penalty from which Lamine Yamal scored. Trippier was shown a yellow that might have been a red and didn’t come back out for the second half, replaced by Tino Livramento.
It had been a great contest, but soon after the restart it was finished. Raphinha’s superb, first-time pass on the turn sent López dashing clear to score the fourth six minutes into the second half and, four minutes after that, Lewandowski headed in Raphinha’s corner to make it five. Still they came. Five more minutes and lovely footwork from Lamine Yamal took him away from Burn to roll into Lewandowski to score. He had barely had time to put his mask back on after the celebration from his first; now he whipped it off again, the place going wild. Withdrawn shortly after, his work was done, but Barcelona’s wasn’t, Raphinha collecting Jacob Ramsey’s misplaced pass to make it seven. Now, it was over.
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