Newcastle United were beaten 2-1 against Barcelona at St James’ Park on Thursday, but the Spanish media were very complimentary about one Toon star.
Despite the defeat, it will still be a night to remember for the fans, who did their absolute best to bring the noise and motivate Eddie Howe’s players.
Ultimately, the world-class Barcelona side were just too much for Newcastle United, who conceded twice in the second half from Marcus Rashford. Anthony Gordon gave Newcastle fans something to cheer about on with a goal on the cusp of added time, but the Spanish giants managed the game brilliantly and allowed the Magpies very few chances to level the game.
Newcastle lost their first game in the new Champions League format, but they can be proud of their performance and now prepare for a long journey to Bournemouth on Sunday.
Anthony Elanga should be happy with his performance for Newcastle on Thursday night. The winger turned it on inside St James’ Park and was unlucky not to get at least one assist when Gordon mistimed an effort and Harvey Barnes missed a huge chance to put the Magpies in front during the first half. He had a good night, and Spanish media thought exactly the same.
Spanish media praise Anthony Elanga’s performance vs Barcelona
It has been a slow start for Elanga on Tyneside. The winger has failed to register a goal involvement since joining for £55m in the summer, and failed to start the last two Premier League games.
However, Howe opted to start Elanga against Barcelona, and it proved to be the right call based on his performance. Elanga can take a lot of confidence from the way he played against a side that were in the Champions League semi-final last season, and have looked fairly unstoppable throughout the 2025/26 campaign.
One Spanish media outlet praised Elanga’s performance, and now RTVE have followed suit and shared their admiration for the Toon star.
“Elanga, on the right wing, was a real headache for the Spanish side, who were only saved from scoring by the poor accuracy of Gordon, playing at number 9 today, and the consistently excellent Joan Garcia.”
The feeling is that Elanga may have registered his first goal contributions for the club if he had a natural striker to aim at.
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While fans would have been hoping for a win, they will also be pleased to have seen some of the best players in the world come to St James’ Park and put on a show in front of a lively crowd.
Robert Lewandowski lived a childhood dream by playing at St James’ Park. The striker revealed that he used to own a Newcastle shirt with club legend Alan Shearer’s name and number on the back.
Elsewhere, Anthony Gordon praised Pedri and Frenkie de Jong for their performances. The two midfielders were able to take control of the game with ease and had very little trouble shrugging off the likes of Sandro Tonali.
Newcastle must reflect on that performance and realise that a bar was set for them on Thursday night: they need to be as competitive as Barcelona. They have a couple of quality players right now, but a lot more needs to be done to get to their level, something that establishes them as one of the best teams in the world.
Thursday was a lesson for Newcastle that there is still some way to go before becoming one of the top clubs.
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