Marcus Rashford’s first Barcelona goal was the Champions League opener, slamming the lively Newcastle United for a 2-1 defeat. The Eddie Howe man threatened to take the lead after a fast start at the noisy St James Park. However, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Burns failed to make the most of Magpie’s best scoring opportunity.
Newcastle dulled the Barca forward line until Rashford led the Laliga champions in 58 minutes with his first goal in the competition since October 2021. Toon was finally on the scoresheet through Rashford’s International teammate Gordon in the 90th minute, but was unable to find a slow equalizer. Newcastle athletes will be releasing sports fees and slates…
Newcastle Player Rating vs Barcelona
Nick Pope-6
Robert Lewandowski denied the clear header that Paul could have scored if Pope had not rushed out of his line. He admitted and could not do anything about the two goals that he denied Daniormo quite late.
Kieran Trippier -7
Despite the Man UTD lenders scoring twice, they won most of their individual battles against Rashford. Neither goal was his fault, and the veteran was strong in his one-on-one fight. I left with a cramp.
Fabianshire-6
A great block that denies Lewandowski and Rashford. We got a goal kick, which was a rare sight. However, his good defensive work was cancelled when he dropped a yard from Rashford for goal. To be fair, he was suffering from the aftereffects of a suspected concussion that probably drove him away immediately.
Dan Byrne-6
There is a good positioning to protect the Newcastle Box for the first hour, but it was his poor clearance that led to Rashford’s second. Otherwise it’s pretty solid. Reserved for a poor tackle in the first half.
Tino Livramento -6
He wasted a good opportunity to fight back by not playing to his highest standards and not offloading the ball quickly enough. However, Rafina didn’t smell much against him on the other side.
Bruno Guimarès-7
His sublime pass led to a Newcastle chance that Burns should have scored. He forced a good save from Garcia on a 2-0 down and found Murphy big in the move that led to goal as the home team’s best player in the middle.
Sandro Tonali -6
He’s a Champions League level player, but despite the good moments of the ball, he had a better game. The poor shot from the edge of the box was straight for Garcia and was too late to close Rashford for the second goal. It was in the middle that my chances of averaging became slower.
Jollington-6
A ball might be better. He had to be careful after booking his first half and was ruled out by the time mark. Before that, I flicked the entire header from the corner.
Anthony Elanga-8
The ball on and off-electric in the first half were Newcastle charms. A big low cross for Gordon was supposed to have been converted, so was his delivery to Burns after a good sprint forward led to goal. The time had been surprisingly low, but the influence soaked after halftime.
Anthony Gordon-6
A good early opportunity wasted when he swiped through the thin air. He worked hard in all the games, but most of his final product was missing until he slowed down the deficit from close range.
Harvey Burns-5
He rejected Joan Garcia’s goal in 23 minutes when he was supposed to finish better. They could also have done more to stop the Jules Caunde cross for the opener.
Alternatives
Malick Thiaw (Schar 63)-6
Above all, I saw a lot of the ball in the final third.
Nick Ultemaid (Barnes 63)-6
A great touch of his first European look and a build-up to Gordon’s goal.
Jacob Murphy (Elanga 63)-7
A perfect cross to Gordon for the goal.
Joe Wilk (Jorlington 63)-6
One low cross forced Garcia out of his line. Good positioning to stop one Barka attack.
Sven Botman (Trippier 76) -N/a
I didn’t get too many touches.
