{"id":466941,"date":"2026-03-10T01:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/466941\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T01:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:28:09","slug":"howe-calls-newcastles-match-with-barcelona-biggest-game-in-clubs-history-newcastle-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/466941\/","title":{"rendered":"Howe calls Newcastle\u2019s match with Barcelona \u2018biggest game in club\u2019s history\u2019 | Newcastle United"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Eddie Howe<\/a> it was quite a statement. \u201cBarcelona is the biggest game in this club\u2019s history,\u201d said Newcastle\u2019s manager. \u201cIt\u2019s massive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Howe usually seems allergic to exaggeration it was a surprising way to approach Tuesday night\u2019s Champions League<\/a> last 16 first leg with Hansi Flick\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Newcastle have never gone this deep into Europe\u2019s showpiece competition before but their past contains a big enough share of cup finals and title tilts to make that assertion somewhat arguable. Not that a Barcelona team made to work hard for a 2-1 win at St James\u2019 Park<\/a> in the competition\u2019s league phase in September are treating their return to Tyneside\u00a0lightly.<\/p>\n

After Flick\u2019s heavily rotated side beat Athletic Club 1-0<\/a> thanks to a goal from Lamine Yamal on Saturday, Bar\u00e7a\u2019s squad flew to north-east England from Bilbao and checked in to Matfen Hall, a luxury country house hotel in Northumberland.<\/p>\n

The idea was for La Liga\u2019s leaders \u2013 they are four points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid \u2013 to decompress for a couple of days before a light training session on the St James\u2019 Park pitch on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Howe has been busy psyching his players up ever since the final whistle blew on Saturday night\u2019s 3-1 home FA Cup defeat<\/a> against Manchester City.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only 16 teams left [in the Champions League] and we\u2019re one of them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to grab a moment we may never get again. You never know what life brings tomorrow, let alone future seasons. We don\u2019t want to waste that opportunity. We don\u2019t want to kick ourselves or think: \u2018What if?\u2019 In my time here, just over four years, we have worked to get to this point. We want to try and get as close as we can to our very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing so has involved Howe asking his players to channel their inner Colombian and conjure the spirit of 1997 when Kenny Dalglish\u2019s Newcastle beat Barcelona<\/a> 3-2 at St James\u2019 Park courtesy of a Tino Asprilla hat-trick.<\/p>\n

At the time, Howe was a 19-year-old Bournemouth defender. \u201cI watched the game, but I don\u2019t remember where I was,\u201d he said. \u201cI assume I was at home. My memory is hazy of that time of my life because I was very focused on my playing career. But you couldn\u2019t not watch that game. It was on terrestrial television. It was one of those legendary games. You want people in future years to be talking about this team. Tino Asprilla gets the hat-trick, a couple of them from Keith Gillespie\u2019s delivery on the right. I want our players to be talked about in the same way, 20, 30, 40 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Gordon\u2019s goal against Barcelona was not enough to avoid a defeat for Newcastle earlier this season. Photograph: Lee Smith\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

In September, two second-half goals from Marcus Rashford secured Flick\u2019s team maximum points on a night when Anthony Gordon\u2019s 90th-minute consolation proved a footnote and, after Newcastle\u2019s initial attacking storm, Pedri took control of midfield.<\/p>\n

Now, with Flick debating whether or not to start Rashford after his recovery from injury, Howe is anxious to avoid a repeat of that game. \u201cFor me, it is the biggest game in our history and we have to have that mentality,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to rise to the occasion and embrace its size.\u201d<\/p>\n

He accepts that Newcastle, a modest 12th in the Premier League thanks to the most inconsistent of campaigns, are far from favourites. \u201cI think the underdog role, in my time, here has helped us,\u201d said Howe. \u201cIt\u2019s when we\u2019re in that position where we feel the odds are stacked against. Now we are going to have to use every psychological tool we can to help us because we are playing a very, very good team. An outstandingly coached team. A top team.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a potential battle between Newcastle\u2019s left-back Lewis Hall and Lamine Yamal looks intriguing, Howe emphasised that it is only one of a series of significant subplots. \u201cWe need to win our individual duels, we need to win our tussles in those big moments,\u201d said a manager who acknowledged leading his team into the last eight may represent the pinnacle of his Tyneside tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, possibly it would,\u201d agreed Howe. \u201cBut I don\u2019t care about myself and my record. I\u2019m desperate for the club to break new ground and to keep going in this competition having worked so hard to get here. If there\u2019s a time for us to be at our absolute best, it\u2019s in these two games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flick suspects Newcastle may well hit those heights and pose plenty of challenges in the process. \u201cThey have very fast players and outstanding players,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re dangerous in transition and I expect them to press us very high, man-to-man. We have to defend bravely. It won\u2019t be easy but we have to find solutions. The Premier League is the world\u2019s best league but we want to play like Bar\u00e7a. We want to show why our supporters are proud of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Eddie Howe it was quite a statement. \u201cBarcelona is the biggest game in this club\u2019s history,\u201d said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-466941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}