HARVEY BARNES promised Barcelona’s superstars a “horrible and ugly” round two at the Nou Camp.
’s last-second penalty robbed the winger, 28, from securing a famous victory at St. James’ Park on Tuesday.
Harvey Barnes came within a whisker of securing Newcastle a famous win over BarcelonaCredit: Getty
That leaves Eddie Howe’s men with the daunting task of having to win next week’s second leg, either in normal time or on penalties, at the home of the five-time winners to advance to the last-eight.
Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Co may have , but Barnes is already plotting revenge for that heartbreak.
He said: “100 per cent it is still wide open. It would have been amazing to go there with a 1-0 lead but we’re level in the tie, we’ve got a chance to take the game to them and see where we’re at.
“We’re a team full of self-belief and there are so many positives to take.
“We played well on and off the ball, limited their chances and had some big chances ourselves. Next week we’ll be bang up for it.
“You’ve got to respect the quality that they have but not respect them on the pitch. We did that tonight where we pressed them from minute one and tried to do that the whole game.
“You can’t let them come here, dictate the game and show their class. You’ve got to make it horrible and ugly for them.
“You can’t show them too much respect. If you do that they’ll punish you and create chance after chance.
“They’ve got class players, they’ll hurt you but we limited their chances and limited their ball in and around the box and that’s credit to the whole team.
“We’ve shown it time and time again that when we play at our top, top level we can compete with these top teams.
“There’s been too many occasions this season where we’ve dropped below those levels and it’s cost us in the league but to be in the Champions League we have hit our top form. We played really well, on and off the ball, and deserved the lead.”
Yamal’s late strike took his tally to 11 goals and four assists from his last 14 matches. But the 18-year-old wonderkid barely had a sniff all game coming up against Barnes’ team-mate Lewis Hall.
And Toon’s left-back has been challenged to reproduce that magic in round two on Wednesday.
Barnes added: “They’ve got some top, top players and Lamine Yamal is one of them. I play next to him but we know what kind of player Hally is and he dealt with him really well.
“We identified before the game that their wide players were the danger men and we knew we had to keep them quiet and double up on them. But even when he was isolated he did really well. Credit to him and it’s another good challenge next week.”
Joelinton and Anthony Gordon were involved in a huge bust-up at the final whistleCredit: Getty
Meanwhile, heartbroken Mags stars Joelinton and Anthony Gordon were spotted in a heated argument at the full time whistle.
The Brazilian was fuming after his team-mate, who received the ball from Sandro Tonali, chased a second and attempted a long pass for the Italian to run on to.
Instead Gordon gave away possession, allowing Barcelona to launch the attack to win their penalty.
Howe said: “I haven’t seen the goal again. It’s a little bit unclear what happened. Sometimes you don’t get the fixed picture.
“Certainly as a team we should have done better. We defended so well.
“The goal seemed soft as the ball went through the middle of us. It should never happen at that stage of the game.
“They have players who can hurt you in an instant. If you switch off for a second they’ll punish you.”
Howe added: “It is my job to try and pick them up. We have unfortunately had to do that a few times this season but our strength of character should never be in doubt. We will be ready by the time the next game comes round.
“We believe in ourselves and our capability and we have shown that today.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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