The vast majority of the crowd clearly hoped for a repeat of that night, almost 28 years to the day, when Tino Asprilla's hat-trick toppled a Barca side chock full of superstars.
History against Newcastle in this fixture
However, the visitors had beaten Newcastle on all three occasions since that game, were in great goalscoring form themselves and unbeaten in five away matches, of which they'd won four.
To combat an expected onslaught from the Catalan giants, Eddie Howe went for a mixture of youth, energy and experience, with Kieran Trippier becoming the third-oldest player to start a Champions League game for Newcastle United at 34 years and 364 days. Only Ian Rush (36 years, 2 days) and Stuart Pearce (35 years, 230 days) were older.
The hosts certainly took the game to their opponents from the first whistle, with Anthony Elanga causing problems down Barcelona's left side and Harvey Barnes having two of the first three shots on target in the game from the opposite flank.
Try as the visitors might, however, they were reduced to half-chances and blocked shots in the opening half hour.
Pedri imperious in midfield
As the game developed, Pedri quickly got into his stride, and the elegant midfielder consistently found his teammates with the vast majority of his passes. By the end of the game, he'd had the most touches (111) and 84 of his 92 total passes had reached their target for a 91.3% pass completion stat.
Alongside Frenkie de Jong, the pair started to dictate the pace and pattern of the game, with Newcastle's frustration clear by the amount of long balls that were being played.
Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton were often bypassed by hoofs upfield, and the trio only managed 21 more passes between them (132) than Pedri on his own.
Alongside Barcelona's 70.1% possession in the first half, Robert Lewandowski had managed four shots on goal along with six more efforts from the likes of Marcus Rashford, Raphinha and Fermin Lopez.
However, none were on target, and the Magpies still looked the more dangerous of the two teams as the half-time whistle was blown.
Rashford makes Newcastle pay the price
Despite the hosts' dominance in terms of chance creation - Elanga and Barnes a consistent threat - they hadn't capitalised, and Barcelona had lost just one of their last 26 Champions League matches that'd been goalless at half-time (W13 D12), so the signs were ominous.
The pattern at the start of the first half was replicated at the beginning of the second as Newcastle upped their intensity and kept Barcelona keeper Joan Garcia, whose handling was impeccable on the night, on his toes.
Five saves and 16 ball recoveries from the custodian tells its own story.
Just before the hour mark, Rashford, whose contribution had been negligible to that point, powerfully headed home the opener to silence the Toon Army.
His sixth goal against Newcastle in all competitions was quickly followed by his seventh, a stunning strike from outside the box. Only against Leicester has he scored more (eight goals), and the brace was his first since October 2020, ironically against Barcelona.
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The four Newcastle subs that had been made in between those goals had barely had time to affect proceedings, and the second goal in particular appeared to knock the stuffing out of Newcastle and deflate the crowd.
It didn't stop Tonali from leading by example and dragging his team up the pitch. Two chances created and two shots were the most from any player, whilst Jacob Murphy's two dribbles got the crowd up off their seats again.
Late hope for Newcastle
Indeed, it was from a Murphy cross that Anthony Gordon gave Newcastle hope late on as he steered home a consolation. A 15th assist since the start of last season means that only Mohamed Salah (24) is ahead of Murphy in recording more assists from open play across all competitions.
There wasn't enough time to get the second to see the points shared, and the loss will be a bittersweet moment for Eddie Howe.
Newcastle had more shots on target than Barcelona (six to five) and more crosses into the box (20 to 10). In Guimaraes, they also had the outfield player who'd won back possession on the most occasions (seven), and yet they were woefully inadequate in just about every other metric.
For a team that likes to play on the front foot, having your top five players in the game making 110 completed passes in total isn't acceptable. Especially not when Pedri and de Jong alone have made 170.
In many respects, that was actually the story of the match.
Newcastle huffed and puffed and on another night, had they taken their chance,s things might've worked out differently. Barcelona simply bided their time, allowed the hosts' intensity to fade and then struck with aplomb.
