Newcastle United host Qarabag FK at St James’ Park on Tuesday night and head into the second leg of the UEFA Champions League knockout stage play-offs with a commanding 6-1 lead from the first leg in Azerbaijan.
How to watch
The match will be broadcast on Tuesday on TNT Sports and Amazon Prime in the UK, Paramount+ in the US, SonyLIV in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow live updates on ESPN.
key details
Kickoff time: Tuesday, February 24th, 8pm GMT (3pm ET, Wednesday, 1:30am IST, 7pm AEDT)
venue: St James’s Park, Newcastle
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
VAR: Daniele Scifi (Italy)
team news
newcastle united
Emil CraftD: knee, outside
Fabian SchaalD: Ankle; outside
Tino LibramentoD: Hamstring; outside
Bruno GuimarãesM: muscle, outside
lewis mileyM: knee; outside
Yoan WisaF: Knockoutside
Sven Botman,D: Back; doubt
Karabag
Shahruddin Mahamadaliev, goalkeeper: doubt
point of issue
anthony gordon and his record
There’s a good chance he won’t start (or not) on Tuesday, but it’s worth looking back at his performance that effectively sealed the deal in Baku. And there’s no better way to do that than with performance statistics.
Anthony Gordon’s goal at 2:02 was the fastest Newcastle goal in UCL history. The previous fastest goals were two in five minutes, both in 2003 (Shola Ameobi and Alan Shearer).
Gordon’s 10 UCL goals this season are the second most by a British player in a UCL season.
Gordon becomes the first British player to score a hat-trick at the UCL KO stage.
Anthony Gordon completed the hat-trick in 33 minutes, becoming the fastest hat-trick ever by an English player or an English club player.
Gordon became the third player to score a hat-trick in his first UCL KO stage appearance, following Valencia’s Gerard (vs. Lazio) in April 2000 and Liverpool’s Sadio Mane (vs. Porto) in February 2018.
Gordon became the second player to score four goals in the first half of a UEFA Champions League match, and the first to do so at the UCL KO stage. Luis Adriano did so in the group stage match between Shakhtar Donetsk and BATE Borisov in the 2014-15 season.
Newcastle United can rotate without fear
No offense to his opponents, but a massive lead in the first leg will allow Eddie Howe to make the most of the players available in his squad, allowing some of his attacking players to get back into their goalscoring form and giving him the chance to test out some of the academy’s best players if he so chooses.
give William Osla The beginning. allow Joelinton To run around and regain leg fitness. If you are overworked, please take a break. Sandro Tonali. Please check Anthony Elanga You can really find your way to your goals. Probably give a young Sean Neave Over 3 minutes.
Anthony Elanga’s question
Since his big-money move from Nottingham Forest, where he was set to finish the season with six goals and 12 assists, Anthony Elanga has been fooling around in Newcastle colors. In 37 games across all competitions this season, Elanga has provided just two assists and one goal (that came in the EFL Cup repechage against Manchester City). More worryingly, Elanga has shown hesitation and lack of directness on the ball – a stark contrast to his time at Forest.
The departure of Alexander Isak has often been cited by Eddie Howe as a reason for the attacking slump, which was understandable in the first half of the season, but that is no longer the case. Elanga is top of the current Newcastle United forwards who need to step up their game.
How can Eddie Howe replace Bruno Guimarães in the short term?
Probably not for this match, but Howe may stumble upon a solution to this conundrum as he tries out different combos on Tuesday. Guimarães is everything to Newcastle and is the main reason for their success since joining the club, but no team can afford to be so reliant on one man and his performances.
Perhaps an impactful UCL KO stage performance could set the stage for someone to step into those shoes. At least in the short term.
Qarabag’s story is not about 6-1
For the Azerbaijani club, the fact that we are here is far more important than what happened in that brutal first-leg defeat. They are the second Azerbaijani club to advance to the group stage of a UEFA competition (2014-15 Europa League), the first to advance to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (2016-17), and now the first club to advance to the Champions League finals.
If you look at some of the names that finished high in the group stage, such as Napoli, Benfica, Marseille, PSV, Athletic Bilbao, Ajax and Villarreal, you begin to understand the importance of what they achieved.