Dion Dublin claims something ‘astonishing’ happened during Newcastle vs Barcelona
Dion Dublin has lauded an aspect of Newcastle’s Champions League clash against Barcelona at St James’ Park that caught him by surprise.
Newcastle headed into their Champions League clash against La Liga champions Barcelona with the hope that they could cause an upset akin to that of their 4-1 thrashing of PSG two seasons ago.
Eddie Howe’s side had the better chances of either side in the first half of the St James’ Park encounter, with Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes both having opportunities to open the scoring.
Gordon was unable to connect with Anthony Elanga’s dangerous cross in the sixth minute with the goal gaping, while Barnes saw his shot well-saved by Joan Garcia in the 24th minute after Elanga had again burst away down the right side of their attack and delivered a good ball across the box.
There were no goals to report of in the first-half as Barcelona soon came back into it after the break and walked away with a 2-1 win, but one aspect of the early stages of the encounter particularly surprised Dion Dublin.
Dion Dublin issues verdict on pace of Newcastle vs Barcelona clash
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has been surprised by Nick Woltemade’s impressive rise prior to his summer move to the Magpies, but the big German striker did not start against his side, with Gordon named as their centre-forward and Barnes on the left-wing.
Each of Newcastle’s front-three have been lauded for their speed, particularly Elanga, who even shone as a striker on international duty for Sweden, and BBC pundit and former forward Dublin, who praised the intensity of the first 45 minutes despite the lack of real goalmouth action.
While live on BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday (18 September, 8:32pm), he said: “What a game. We’ve had no goals but the pace of the game is just astonishing.”
It should really come as little surprise to see such a high-intensity game involving Newcastle, especially on a Champions League night on Tyneside, with their bear-pit-like atmosphere always fuelling their players to attack and defend with might and determination.
Eddie Howe may regret one decision that saw his team slow down in the second half
Elanga, who joined Newcastle from Nottingham Forest in the summer, created two big chances for his side that were wasted by both Gordon and Barnes.
He looked set to continue to do so in the second-half with the scores locked at 0-0, but as Newcastle went a goal down from Marcus Rashford’s header, Eddie Howe made a surprising decision that did his side no favours.
| Anthony Elanga against Barcelona | Stat |
| Minutes played | 63′ |
| Chances created | 2 |
| Shots | 1 |
| Passes (accurate) | 9 (12) |
| Touches in opposition box | 6 |
The Swede was taken off the pitch in place of Jacob Murphy five minutes after the goal, with Ally McCoist admitting he was “surprised” at Elanga’s substitution, and his pace and directness was badly missed as Newcastle struggled to create clear cut chances and went 2-0 down.
Murphy did provide an assist for Gordon’s late strike to make it 2-1, but there was certainly a feeling that Elanga would have done more to help his side get something out of the game if he had stayed on a little longer.