Champions League Performance Insights: Newcastle, Barcelona and the value of identity
Article summary
UEFA Technical Observer Gaizka Mendieta explores how contrasting styles shaped the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg between Newcastle and Barcelona.
Article top media content
Article body
“A clash of styles.” That was how UEFA Technical Observer Gaizka Mendieta described this week’s Champions League round of 16 first-leg contest between Newcastle United and Barcelona.
“Barcelona knew that if they had the ball for long periods, Newcastle would struggle,” Mendieta elaborated, “and Newcastle knew that if they imposed their high intensity, Barcelona would struggle.”
Both of these approaches feature in the analysis below in which UEFA’s game insights unit explore the teams’ contrasting identities – and assess, in Barcelona’s case, how their young players stood up to the challenge of a frenetic night at St James’ Park.
Indeed, Tuesday's 1-1 draw called to mind Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon’s words in January comparing the “much more open” football of the Champions League with the Premier League. “It’s so relentless physically,” he said of England’s top flight. “It’s a running game and sometimes it’s about duels.”
All of that was true of Newcastle’s aggressive approach against Barcelona. Hansi Flick’s men had experienced the hosts’ speed and intensity in the league phase but that made the early storm no less easy to manage, with the graphic below illustrating the threat of Eddie Howe’s side in the opening 15 minutes.
Newcastle's intensity
The first video below provides three examples of Newcastle’s early intensity, showing them press hard, win second balls and take on Barcelona defenders in duels.
Clip one illustrates this with an early attack ending with an Anthony Elanga cross that brings a corner. The second clip shows how Newcastle sustained their pressure from the resulting corner – and the urgency with which they moved the ball forward and got numbers back into the final third.
Finally, clip three offers an example of them going man for man across the pitch, as Barcelona looked to play out. This was the context for Barcelona completing just 56% of their attempted passes in the first ten minutes.
“They really pressed fantastically and gave us not so many chances to come out.”
Newcastle continued to make life difficult for the visitors according to Howe, who noted: “We kept the intensity up which is very difficult to do against them for so long in the game.”
Runs in behind
Another notable feature of Newcastle’s attacking was the runs in behind of their attacking players, spelled out by the graphic above. As the second video shows, they were quick and direct in getting the ball forward, and the timing and direction of their runs tested Barcelona’s defenders.
Clip one begins with them winning the ball back yet again – “they got so many second balls,” said Mendieta – though the chief focus is how their attackers looked to target space between the full-back and centre-back, in this case with Elanga getting inside and running at João Cancelo.
As Mendieta put it, the Newcastle attackers would “move from the inside into the wide areas rather than starting wide and coming inside” and it certainly asked questions of Barcelona’s back line. This is seen clearly in clip two, with all three forwards attacking the space in behind.
Barcelona's quality and composure
As noted in our initial post-match analysis, this was a game in which Barcelona’s quality told eventually with their last-gasp equaliser.
In Flick’s view “with the ball we didn’t have a good game”, yet they still produced more line-breaking passes than Newcastle – 27 to 12 – and an example features in clip one below, with Pau Cubarsí’s pass forward which Lamine Yamal turns cleverly into the path of Fermín López to spark an attack.
“That's Barça, isn't it?” said former Barcelona midfielder Mendieta of the Catalan club’s strong identity. “It doesn't matter what's happening throughout the game, they’ll always try to play. They’ll always try to get those passes through because, in the same way Newcastle know they have to keep the intensity high, Barça need to have that ball.”
They did not manage it all the time yet their quality flickered nonetheless, as seen for example in clip two with Pedri escaping the pressure to lead another foray. “We saw them holding the ball in tight spaces and under pressure, keeping the ball and passing the ball,” affirmed Mendieta.
Coaching reflection: Lessons from Barcelona's young players
At St James’ Park, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick fielded four homegrown players in their teens – starters Pau Cubarsí, Marc Bernal and Yamal, and substitute Xavi Espart, who was making his senior debut aged 18.
“These games toughen up players and those guys will have learned something to become better players,” noted Mendieta. “It gives an understanding of what it takes to play in a top Premier League stadium against a tough English team.”
As an additional point on youth development, it would be fair to suggest that – in the face of Tuesday’s clash of styles – some of Barcelona’s youngsters would have felt the benefit of their experiences in the UEFA Youth League, the Europe-wide competition for U19 sides.
Six of the players used by Flick on Tuesday, Yamal included, had played Youth League football for Barcelona and the above-mentioned Xavi Espart was part of the Blaugrana’s winning team in the competition last year.
In this sense, it is worth noting a quote in the technical report of that 2024/25 campaign from Barcelona playmaker Quim Junyent. “It helps us know different playing styles, different countries and makes you see that football is played in many ways,” he said of the Youth League’s benefits.
Developmental benefits of the UEFA Youth League
• Preparing to play abroad, travel included
• Exposure to different styles of play
• Focusing on the process, not environmental factors
• Sticking to the plan under pressure
• Experiencing failure and disappointment
Gaizka Mendieta concurs. Recalling the lessons he learned from playing in two tournaments abroad as a teenager, he remarks that elite young players today need to experience different football styles and cultures. “Nowadays thanks to the Youth League and other tournaments, kids play in many countries and those experiences help players grow and improve. They play international football, they grow and are ready for the next step.”
Steve Cooper, the UEFA Technical Observer for last season’s Youth League final stage, highlighted above all the importance for youngsters of learning about “sticking to the plan under extreme pressure”. This week, when confronted by Newcastle’s pace and aggression, Barcelona’s young players showed their capacity to do just that.
A two-time UEFA Champions League runner-up with Valencia, midfielder Mendieta also played in Italy and England and was capped 40 times by Spain. Since hanging up his boots in 2008, the former Barcelona player has been doing media work and a spot of DJing.
More like this