Analysis – Barnes and Gordon step uppublished at 10:43 BST
10:43 BST
Newcastle 3-0 Benfica
Ciaran Kelly
BBC Sport reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Nick Woltemade has made an impressive start to his Newcastle career, but the German has had to shoulder the goalscoring burden very quickly since his £69m move from Stuttgart.
Woltemade has scored four of Newcastle’s past five goals in the Premier League and they needed others to step up.
In this competition, both Gordon and Barnes have done so.
After scoring his first ever Champions League goal in the 2-1 defeat against Barcelona, which ended up proving a mere consolation, Gordon followed that up with a couple of penalties in the 4-0 rout of Union Saint-Gilloise.
But this was his most crucial contribution yet.
St James’ was tense, nervy even, after Newcastle escaped a couple of scares following Lukebakio’s efforts.
But the momentum of the game and, indeed, the atmosphere changed once Gordon opened the scoring.
And what about Barnes?
Like Gordon, he has yet to find the back of the net in the Premier League this season but has also come alive in Europe, scoring three goals in three appearances.
Woltemade may have failed to find the back of the net, but it did not matter because his team-mates stepped up.