Newcastle 1 vs Barcelona 2: Barcelona Fry Newcastle Inside Their Own Cauldron

Image: Fc Barcelona Twitter

I had a lot of fear when I saw Newcastle, St James’ Park as a fixture for Barcelona in the Champions League. This Newcastle team has made visiting teams look like amateurs at Newcastle. Many a top teams have come here and been run ragged with that hard running, grit and grind gung-ho style of football, their relentless high man-to-man press and their quick wide men and battering rams of midfielders.

However, while I had my worries, I also trusted in my team. I trusted that Barca had what it took to tame Newcastle at their bubbling cauldron. And that’s precisely what happened here tonight.

But first, my fears had to be confirmed.

Newcastle began the match with a relentless man-to-man press that threatened to hammer Barcelona into submission. Every one of Newcastle’s players understood their roles and they executed them perfectly. Every Barcelona build-up was curtailed at two or three passes at most. We were suffocating!

Newcastle threatened and even forced Garcia into some saves in the first half. His save from Anthony Gordon after Elanga had shown Araujo a clean pair of heels was perhaps his best. Oh, how those of us of the Blaugrana persuasion have cried, nay, begged, nay, prayed and fasted, for a goalkeeper of mettle and steel.

Ladies and gentlemen, Joan Garcia.

Must be an alien - Culers after years of dealing with Ter Stegen

But he was far from the only Barca player to show up. Pedri and De Jong did their best impression of Xaviesta and helped Barcelona calm the white and black storm from Tyneside. Their smooth rotations, silky touches, and fleet-footedness ensured that Barcelona were not completely overrun in that early Newcastle onslaught, as the game threatened to slip from their grasp.

And that first half looked as though it would turn into one of those nights for Barcelona, where they just don’t quite match up to their rivals' intense badgering. While clear chances were few, Newcastle had posed the greater threat, with Barcelona having no shot on target in that first half compared to Newcastle's one.

Second Half Change in Tide

Newcastle began the second half as they sought to go on, and by the 52^nd minute, Barca were still unable to carve them open, while they pestered and backed Barca into their own half.

Tonali forced a save from Garcia in the 53^rd minute after a sustained Newcastle pressure, but after that, Barcelona leaned forward and began hammering away at their controllers.

Pedri and De Jong took the reins in midfield and slowly began snatching the game from the battering rams of Joelinton, Tonali, and Guimaraes. From then on, there would only be one winner. Not that those three had the game tight in their grasp, but they threatened to rip Barca's chains from their necks. But Pedri and De Jong, one spin at a time, one dummy after another, one feint then another, started cooking, even as the Tyneside faithful tried, and ultimately failed, to raise the temperatures. Intimidate Pedri and De Jong? Are you out of your mind? These two are the base on which midfield play is platformed; the Smoke and Stack of midfield dynamics. You don’t play against them. You sit and watch them play you like a flute. After the Newcastle onslaught, Barcelona was now getting back in business.

Pedri and De Jong rubbing their hands together as they lick their lips, 'Serious business is about to begin.'

Rashford, too, started showing life midway in the second half, while Raphinha and Fermin showed some improvements compared to their first-half showing.

Soon, Barca would take the knife that was between Newcastle's teeth. And with every pressure, the cracks in Newcastle's wall began showing. It was only a matter of time. Just one swing of a foot. A neat cross. Just a touch of class. And it happened in the 58th minute. Kounde sent in a lovely cross for Rashford to head into the net and give Barcelona the lead.  1-0 at St James’s Park! It was happening.

That lead gave Barca some extra bite, and Fermin tried a spectacular drive that earned Barca a corner not long after.

St James’ Park, though, was still buzzing. Barca needed something spectacular, something out of this world, to silence the home crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen! He has fully arrived. MBE himself, Marcus Rashford, delivered a meteor from outer space, or perhaps, he sent his own rocket there, choose your pick of metaphors. But after some good work to manufacture some space for himself just outside the Newcastle box, he sent an unstoppable shot past Nick Pope, who, even if he had the limbs of Mr. Fantastic, would not save that! Mamma mia! 2-0 Barca in the 66^th minute. BTW, those two goals came from Barca’s only two shots on target until then.

And now, it was all about lead preservation, showing that Barca had matured from the gaffes at San Siro. And they did. Not even Woltemade What’s the matter?, could come up with the goods for Newcastle, as he was kept on door bolt by Ronald Araujo, who had a quietly good game shielding Kounde’s back.

Speaking of Kounde, he also had a spectacular game, keeping Gordon on lock while also showing some great combinations in attack with Pedri, Raphinha and Fermin. After that, Barca had Newcastle on tenterhooks, just where we wanted them, and we did the best keep away despite their aggressive press.

Some of the combination plays from around the 80^th to 86^th minute were orgasmic, sensual stuff. Barca players showed their technical superiority, calmly passing the ball around Newcastle’s central third in what was an impudent display of superiority. It wasn’t quite a pass-them-into-submission clinic ala Barca’s pass masters of yore, but it needn’t be. Just some passable impression of it, and it was effective. But only for a while.

Newcastle set us up for a nervy finish when Murphy found Gordon for 2-1, and while there were some tense moments, ultimately, Barcelona did enough to keep the Magpies at arm’s length and record a win in their opening Champions League fixture in a tough away game. I had expected a roasting at St James’ Park, I won’t lie, but I hadn’t expected that it would be Barcelona who did the cooking or that Rashford would be the Firestarter, with Pedri and Frenkie as the master chefs. Yet that is what happened.

I could sit up all night and write about Barca’s excellent outing, but for now, let me rest after a rather beautiful 7.5/10 performance from Blaugrana.

Onto the next! Visca Barca!