{"id":546730,"date":"2026-03-17T18:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546730\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T18:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:50:08","slug":"eddie-howe-says-newcastle-will-not-shrink-in-barcelona-last-16-second-leg-newcastle-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546730\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Howe says Newcastle will not \u2018shrink\u2019 in Barcelona last-16 second leg | Newcastle United"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week ago Eddie Howe called it the \u201cbiggest match in the club\u2019s history\u201d, and that was in Newcastle; this time it\u2019s Barcelona, but Howe has insisted his players will not be overawed when they walk out at Camp Nou for the second leg of their Champions League<\/a> last-16 second leg on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t shrink at the size of the game, and I don\u2019t think we will,\u201d the Newcastle manager said. \u201cWe have got many players who have played in so many games now; we have become accustomed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe also said that, bolstered by their 1-0 victory against Chelsea<\/a> on Sunday, his side are in \u201cas good a place as any time this season\u201d, and approach the second leg with confidence after it took a Lamine Yamal penalty in added time to deny them victory at St James\u2019s Park in the initial encounter.<\/p>\n

Asked if a victory would be the biggest of his career, Howe replied: \u201cIt probably would be, yeah, but it\u2019s irrelevant because that\u2019s the outcome and we\u2019re in the preparatory phase. We have to make sure our game plan, tactical delivery and individual performances are at the right level. We have another massive, massive game at the weekend [against Sunderland], so I don\u2019t want to heap too much pressure on the players. I just want them to try to execute the best performance they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have many, many internationals in the squad so I don\u2019t see [shrinking] as an issue. We have enough players who can cause them problems. We\u2019ll enjoy the game, but we\u2019ll only truly enjoy it if we deliver. I think we\u2019re in a good place to do that, and the players are probably as confident as they\u2019ve been in any stage this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur recent performances have been really strong. The individuals are performing at a really high level \u2013 that hasn\u2019t always been the case. We need everything to go our way tomorrow. We know how good Barcelona<\/a> are, but we believe in ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will try to be ourselves. We need a bit of everything. A defensive mentality [like] against Chelsea: blocking shots, defending in numbers. But also a bit of what we do best: our running capacity, our athleticism. There has been a really good battle between their midfield and ours in both games. We are going to need to be very good in our duels. The battle in midfield will go a long way to deciding the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe also backed Sandro Tonali after his agent suggested that the Italian would be looking for a move in the summer. \u201cThe person that matters most is Sandro,\u201d the 48-year-old said. \u201cAll I have ever seen from him is someone who is totally committed, selfless. He is here for all the team not himself. He had a really difficult moment when he first joined and showed strength and character to get through. Forget the noise, he is fully committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kieran Trippier, meanwhile, said that he could never have imagined a moment like this when he joined Newcastle four years ago and said that if he does leave when his contract expires this summer he will go feeling satisfied. \u201cI got criticised when I left Atl\u00e9tico [Madrid]; I got a lot of negativity for a lot of different reasons, but I had my reasons and this [game] justifies it a bit,\u201d said the defender. \u201cI have no regrets, I never have with any decision in football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought we would play in the Champions League, to be honest, and now we have been here twice. There have been two cup finals. This is where we want to be. There have been many special moments. Ten thousand Geordies are coming out speaks volumes: they have backed us in the tough moments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A week ago Eddie Howe called it the \u201cbiggest match in the club\u2019s history\u201d, and that was in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-546730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}