Manchester’s reject brings down Newcastle with a brace

He was not playing well under various Manchester United managers. Finally, he was sent on a loan to Aston Villa in February and played excellent, scoring four goals (along with six assists) in 17 appearances. But even that was not enough for Ruben Amorim. The Portuguese coach wanted to get rid of him and instead of trying to blend him into the squad, he sent him to Barcelona for another loan, while he bought three strikers for over 200 million pounds. Rashford needed some time to adjust, but exploded when it was needed – under pressure from 52 screaming Geordies at St. James Park. With England coach Thomas Tuchel in the crowd and playing on his home soil, Rashford scored a brace for Barca’s first win in the Champions League: Newcastle – Barcelona 1-2.

It turns out that the Catalans didn’t need their first-team players Lamin Yamal, Gavi and Alejandro Balde, who were all injured, as they had Rashford, who did it all by himself. Newcastle have won their last three matches against Spanish sides, and boast a positive record overall with six wins and five draws but tonight they didn’t used their chances and were punished for it. There were in control in the first half, pressuring Barca and causing chaos in the counter attack, but the visitors prevailed and Rashford did the rest in the second half. Hansi Flick's current Barcelona side have the second highest goals per game in Champions League history - bested only by Hansi Flick's 2019-2021 Bayern Munich side and they added two more goals tonight.

It was the first half and two mega chances which will haunt the Magpies. In the fifth minute, Elanga passed Martin on the left and put a perfect grounded cross towards Gordon. Only thing he needed to do was to shoot into the empty net and he missed the entire ball. The second one was also excellent and it was again Elanga, 20 minutes later. In another Newcastle counter attack, he made a perfect pass again and this time Harvey Barnes took a precise shot, but Barca keeper Joan Garcia made an excellent save. The guests were overwhelmed by an atmosphere at St. James Park and the pressing of the home team, but the Magpies didn’t used it, and Barca (or more precisely Marcus Rashford) took their revenge in the second half.

Fabian Schar was hit in the head with a ball and looked really shaken, but continued to play and he allowed on-loan Manchester forward to be totally alone in the penalty area. Rashford was precise with his head and brought the lead to the visitors. Coach Eddie Howe made four substitutions (including the shaken Schar), but soon after that, it was 2-0. While the first goal was a mistake by Newcastle’s defense, the second Rashford’s goal was pure class, when he scored a screamer form the edge on the penalty box for the 2-0 score and a complete silence at the stadium. Nothing happened from that moment on, until the 90th minute, when Gordon's goal gave hope to the Magpies, but they couldn't do anything in the remaining seven minutes of injury time.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 1

Tuesday

Athletic Bilbao - Arsenal 0-2 (0-0)

/Martinelli 72, Trossard 87/

PSV - St. Gilloise 1-3 (0-2)

/Van Bommel 90 - David 9 pen, Ait El Hadj 39, Mac Allister 81/

Benfica - Qarabag 2-3 (2-1)

/Barrenechea 6, Pavlidis 16 - Andrade 30, Duran 48, Kashchuk 86/

Juventus - Dortmund 4-4 (0-0)

/Yildiz 64, Vlahovic 68, 90+4, Kelly 90+6 - Adeyemi 52, Nmecha 65, Couto 75, Bensebaini 83 pen/

Real Madrid - Olympique Marseille 2-1 (1-1)

/Mbappe 29 pen, 81 pen - Weah 22/

Tottenham - Villarreal 1-0 (1-0)

/Luiz Junior 4 og/

Wednesday

Olympiacos - Paphos 0-0

Slavia Prague - Bodo 2-2 (1-0)

/Mbodji 23, 74 - Bassi 78, Fet 90/

Ajax - Inter 0-2 (0-1)

/Thuram 42, 47/

Bayern - Chelsea 3-1 (2-1)

/Chalobah 20 og, Kane 27 pen, 63 - Palmer 29/

Liverpool - Atletico Madrid 3-2 (2-1)

/Robertson 4, Salah 6, Van Dijk 90+2 - Llorente 45+3, 81/

PSG - Atalanta 4-0 (2-0)

/Marquinhos 3, Khvicha 39, Mendes 51, Ramos 90+1/

Thursday

Club Brugge - Monaco 4-0 (3-0)

/Tresoldi 32, Onyedika 39, Vanaken 42, Diakhon 75/

Copenhagen - Leverkusen 2-2 (1-0)

/Larsson 9, Robert 86 - Grimaldo 82, Hatzidiakos 90+1 (og)/

Eintr. Frankfurt - Galatasaray 5-1 (3-1)

/Sanchez (og), Uzun 45+2, Singo 45+4 (og), Burkardt 66, Knauff 75 - Akgun 8/

Man. City - Napoli 2-0 (0-0)

/Haaland 56, Doku 65/

Newcastle - Barcelona 1-2 (0-0)

/Gordon 90 - Rashford 58, 67/

Sporting - Kairat Almaty 4-1 (1-0)

/Trincao 44, 65, Santos 67, Quenda 68 - Edmilson 86/