Newcastle United star lifts lid on 'ugly' plan that showed Barcelona no respect

CommentsSean McCormick Newcastle United reporter12:00, 11 Mar 2026Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes insists the Magpies dressing room is full of belief rather than disappointment, despite the nature of their 1-1 draw with Barcelona in the first leg of their last 16 clash in the Champions League.

Barnes looked like he had scored the goal to seal a famous win under the lights at St James' Park as he bundled the ball past Joan Garcia from Jacob Murphy's cross in front of the Gallowgate End to score his sixth Champions League goal of the season.

But the night ended in heart-breaking fashion as Lamine Yamal swept home an equaliser from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game after Malick Thiaw was adjudged to have fouled Dani Olmo in the penalty area.

It cruelly denied Newcastle the opportunity to take a one goal lead to the Camp Nou in next week's second leg but Barnes insists they have taken belief from their performance on Tyneside ahead of their trip to Catalonia.

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"I think it is still wide open," Barnes told Chronicle Live.

"Listen, it would have 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.

"The previous game we played well but didn't take our chances. Tonight I thought 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.

"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 in the Champions League we have hit our top form. We played really well, on and off the ball, and deserved the lead.

"We're ahead in the game so it's a disappointing end but we've drawn 1-1 with Barcelona at home, there's a second leg to come. For a lot of the game we were the better side, controlled big parts of it and looked really dangerous. You've got to look at that positively, you can't not.

"The goal is disappointing, of course, but you've almost got to put that to one side and think it's done, move on to next week and have a go."

Newcastle's intensity and physicality disrupted the flow of Barcelona's technicians and the pace of Barnes, Will Osula and Anthony Elanga, in particular, caused their high defensive line all sorts of problems. Had United been a bit more clinical in forward areas they could have been taking a comfortable lead over to Spain.

Nonetheless, Barnes insists they will take heart from the fact their game plan to make things horrible and ugly showed Barcelona they will not be showing them any respect in the return leg.

"You've got to respect the quality that they have but not respect them on the pitch," Barnes added.

"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."

Barnes played in front of left-back Lewis Hall on Newcastle's left hand side and had a box office view of his outstanding performance up against Yamal. And Barnes feels his team-mate deserves all the plaudits that are coming his way.

"They've got some top, top players and Lamine Yamal is one of them," Barnes finished.

"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 their wide players were their 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 another good challenge next week."

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