Newcastle 1-2 Barcelona: Rashford's brilliant brace sees UCL opening victory

Barcelona have secured victory in their opening Champions League match of the season, defeating Newcastle United at St James’ Park.

Match Report

The Blaugrana were without teenage sensation Lamine Yamal for their trip to St James' Park, but Manchester United loanee Rashford made his mark after being selected to start alongside Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha.

After Newcastle missed a pair of great first-half chances, Rashford planted a header into the bottom-left corner just before the hour mark, before getting a thunderous second. Anthony Gordon teed up a grandstand finish in the 90th minute, but Barca survived seven minutes of stoppage time to ensure a winning start to the league phase.

Newcastle started brightly in front of a raucous home crowd, and they should have gone ahead in the sixth minute. Anthony Elanga burst down the right and teed up Gordon, only for his fellow forward to completely miskick in front of goal.

Another electric run from Elanga created Newcastle's second big chance as he fed Harvey Barnes in the 24th minute, but Joan Garcia made a strong save with his right foot.

Having weathered that early storm, Barca grew into the contest as the first half went on, with Lewandowski and Raphinha firing off several blocked or wayward efforts.

Joelinton flicked a header just wide as Eddie Howe's hosts also started the second half quickly, but Barca went ahead in the 58th minute. Jules Kounde was given too much time to cross from the right, and Rashford escaped the attention of Fabian Schar to nod home.

Rashford's sensational second goal came nine minutes later, as he jinked to the right side of the D before unleashing a swerving effort that crashed in off the underside of the bar.

Newcastle threw on €90m (£69m) signing Nick Woltemade as they looked for a route back into the game, and the German was involved in the flowing move that resulted in Gordon turning Jacob Murphy's cross home with stoppage time looming.

However, Barca navigated the finale with relative ease, even going close to a third goal as Nick Pope denied substitute Dani Olmo.

Data Debrief: Rashford replicates Kane

Had Yamal not been sidelined with a groin issue, Rashford would likely not have started Thursday's game.

But Yamal's absence allowed Rashford the opportunity to become just the fifth player to score twice on their Champions League debut for Barca, after Txiki Begiristain (1993), Cristian Tello (2012), Lewandowski (2022) and Joao Felix (2023).

Rashford is also just the second Englishman to score on his Champions League debut for a non-English club when facing a Premier League team, with Harry Kane doing so for Bayern Munich against Man Utd in September 2023.

Rashford and Kane are also the only two English players to score two goals in a Champions League game for a non-English club against a Premier League side, with Kane doing so against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

7' Barnes clips the ball over Garcia but it drops just wide and the flag goes up

9' Rashford races into the box before shooting wide of the near post

14' Trippier picks out Barnes in the box and he wins a corner off Jules Kounde

23' Elanga flies down the right before crossing for Barnes whose strike is saved

28' Newcastle midfielder Joelinton is booked for a foul on Pedri

35' Lewandowski slams in a shot which is blocked

40' Raphinha takes a fee-kick and curls it over the bar

47' Dan Burn is booked for catching Kounde after the Barca man had played the ball

48' Newcastle win a corner and from it Joelinton glances a header wide

52' Match Event for Newcastle vs Barcelona

54' Sandro Tonali's effort from 20 yards out is easily saved by Joan Garcia

58' GOAL! Rashford opens the scoring with a header! Newcastle 0-1 Barcelona

67' GOAL! Rashford scores double with an absolute stunner! Newcastle 2-0 Barcelona

70' Barcelona bring on Torres and Christensen to replace Cubarsi and Lewandowski

71' England boss Tuchel is watching the game on the stand

80' Match Event for Newcastle vs Barcelona

82' Rashford is replaced by Dani Olmo and Eric Garcia replaces Gerard Martin

90' GOAL! Gordon pulls one back to keep the game on! Newcastle 1-2 Barcelona

Line-ups

Newcastle XI: Trippier, Schar, Burn, Pope, Joelinton, Guimaraes, Barnes, Tonali, Gordon, Tino Livramento, Anthony Elanga

Subs: Krafth, J.Murphy, Ramsdale, Willock, Sven Botman, Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade, Lewis Hall, William Osula, Alex Murphy, Max Thompson, Lewis Miley

Barcelona XI: Lewandowski, De Jong, Rashford, Raphinha, Kounde, Araujo, Pedri, Joan García, Fermín López, Gerard Martín, Cubarsi

Subs: Szczesny, Christensen, Olmo, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia, Casado, Roony Bardghji, Diego Kochen, Toni Fernández, Bernal, Jofre Torrents