🔗 Share this article

When Jose Mourinho came at St James' Park and praised Newcastle's coach and his squad, home supporters feared a tough game. However such fears disappeared due to a strike from the winger and two more from substitute Harvey Barnes, making sure the visitors' coach would not cause any trouble for Howe's team.

Game Dynamics and Initial Action

Mourinho had forecast that the home side would be extremely aggressive, but his Benfica players showed their own aggressive style. The visitors clearly enjoyed breaking up the Magpies' initial attempts to build a fluent passing rhythm.

Compounding Newcastle's challenges, key players, Sandro Tonali and the Brazilian, started on the bench as they were recovering from illness and a knock respectively.

Prior to the start, the coaches shared a perfunctory, reserved greeting, and it quickly became apparent that Mourinho had instructed his team to quiet the home fans by delaying Newcastle and reducing the temperature whenever possible.

Key Moments and Decisive Actions

The visitors' strategy produced mixed outcomes, but when Gordon and the Newcastle attack succeeded to dismantle the defensive barricades, they at first struggled to generate clear opportunities.

Additionally, Benfica's Belgium winger Dodi Lukebakio almost showed scoring skill when, after leaving Dan Burn behind, he tested Nick Pope with a powerful strike that got an excellent one-handed save. It's no surprise Pope retains hope for an national team return in time for the global tournament.

Yet when the winger directed another shot against the woodwork, the home side roused themselves. Murphy fired wide, and Benfica's keeper made an impressive near-post stop from Bruno Guimaraes before Anthony Gordon finally opened the scoreless tie.

Gordon's blazing speed had created problems for the Benfica coach all evening, and he neatly slotted the first goal past the goalkeeper after his teammate's early ball into the box paid off.

When the Magpies' intense, pressing game was not anticipated by Benfica, Murphy, chosen over £55m Anthony Elanga, was available to pass a low ball across the face of goal for the winger to polish off.

Later Stages and Match-Winning Substitutions

Right from the start, the Portuguese team could not be blamed of parking the bus and seeking a point, but now Mourinho's players attacked with real abandon. The winger consistently displayed an ability to destabilize Newcastle's back four, and the Magpies were likely relieved to regroup at half-time.

The opening period concluded with the keeper once more saving his team by tipping the attacker's shot around the goal frame, and as the sides came out for the next period, the match seemed finely poised.

While Gordon, clearly buoyed by netting his fourth strike in three European appearances this season, played with the determination of a winger set to shift the balance in Newcastle's direction, the Benfica attacker had other ideas.

Mourinho's winger had already shown that, while Burn is a capable central defender, he is not a natural left-back, and Newcastle hearts were nervous every time Lukebakio moved forward.

Howe might have felt easier had Lewis Miley, filling in for Tonali, not headed a set-piece over the bar from a good spot. Instead, this absorbing game continued to swing from end to end, persuading the manager to bring on Joelinton and Harvey Barnes in place of Ramsey and Murphy.

Mourinho, meanwhile, brought on an extra striker in Franjo Ivanovic. It would arguably prove a gamble too far.

Harvey Barnes Wins the Match

Until then, the away team, and especially their Portugal defender Silva, had performed a fine job in limiting Nick Woltemade's space and pushing the German striker deep. But now, with right-back Amar Dedic substituted, the backline was underpowered, and the way was clear for Barnes to show that Anthony Gordon is not the manager's only goal-scoring wide player.

Newcastle's double substitution was already proving effective by the time the goalkeeper dispatched a wonderful long throw in Barnes's direction. When Silva, for once, misjudged the bounce, Barnes was away, accelerating into the area before maintaining impressive composure to fire a superb strike past Trubin.

When Harvey Barnes slid a shot through unfortunate the goalkeeper's legs after receiving Gordon's excellent through ball, it was finished. Mourinho had cautioned that the Magpies have several quick wingers, and a trio of strikes from two wingers had destroyed his hopes of securing the team's first Champions League points of the campaign.