Lamine Yamal hurts Newcastle hopes as Barcelona snatch draw with last kick

It was a night when the Tyneside passions pulsed; the nervous energy, too, because this was something unprecedented – a first Champions League knockout stage tie in Newcastle’s history. It was not just the gilded level of the opposition that fired the excitement, the imagination. Eddie Howe was in little doubt that it was the biggest game Newcastle had ever played.

Newcastle had to do more than subdue Barcelona, the champions in Spain last season and league leaders this time out. They had to manage the occasion because it was one that came to rest on the edge of a knife. As the minutes ticked down, the clear chances so scarce, they knew that one moment was likely to be decisive. At either end.

When they made it happen towards the end of regulation time, it was the prompt for their hopes to surge. Harvey Barnes had been denied by the post on 75 minutes after a lovely team move, with Joelinton flagged for offside when he put the rebound into the net.

Barnes refused to believe it would form the basis of his story and there was joy in the home stands when he ghosted unmarked on to a cross from the substitute, Jacob Murphy. Nobody in a Barcelona shirt tracked him – it was a defensive breakdown at a crucial point – and the finish was true. The breakthrough was deserved and their fans felt the conviction rampage through their thoughts before next Wednesday’s Camp Nou return.

Not so fast. Barcelona had not offered much in the final third. Newcastle were the better team across the piece, the performance defined by power and a willingness to run. But with time almost up, the visitors worked the ball into the area for Dani Olmo, on as a substitute, and the move he put on Malick Thiaw was too cute for the Newcastle centre-half.

Olmo faked to go one way and exploded in the other direction, momentarily throwing Thiaw, who jabbed out a leg and immediately regretted doing so. He could not undo what was done. The contact was there, it was a clear penalty and when Lamine Yamal converted, it added up to the most bitter of pills for Newcastle. The tone of the evening had shifted in little more than the blink of an eye.

The buildup had been a mini-epic in its own right, Howe not shying away from the game’s importance – far from it – and the history was a major part of it.

The clubs are united by a love for Sir Bobby Robson, who managed both of them. And, from a Newcastle perspective, there was that first match in this competition here against Barcelona – the never-to-be-forgotten 3-2 win in 1997. Tino Asprilla and Keith Gillespie, the heroes from that night, were back in town for this one.

Harvey Barnes gives Newcastle hope of beating Barcelona with his goal after 86 minutes. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images/Reuters

Howe preferred William Osula to both Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa in the No 9 role – with Anthony Gordon fit enough only for the bench after illness. It was a big call; a damning one for Woltemade and Wissa. Howe wanted pace where it stood to matter the most. Also intensity.

Newcastle were turbocharged for the opening 15 minutes and Barcelona had a storm to weather. Dan Burn went close after Lewis Hall headed a half-cleared corner back towards goal and there was the moment when Anthony Elanga drew a low save out of Joan García. Elanga was deemed to have been offside. He looked to have been OK. Elanga made a number of dangerous incisions up the right. He lacked the end product.

What did Barcelona’s vaunted attack have in the first half? Not much. They almost pressured Burn into putting through his own goal while Fermín López banged a shot straight at Aaron Ramsdale. Hansi Flick, Barça’s manager, would lament too many turnovers, too many errors.

Hall versus Lamine Yamal was a gripping duel and the Newcastle left-back more than stood up to it. He was a picture of concentration and commitment; surging forward runs, as well. Hall was fortunate to escape a booking on 19 minutes for pulling Lamine Yamal back. But so was the Spaniard when he slammed into Hall after playing a loose pass just before the interval. Call it evens. The Newcastle crowd hummed with a general sense of indignation towards the officials.

Newcastle looked to play passes up the channels, to bring their physicality to bear. Jacob Ramsey caught the eye in midfield; Joelinton did too. It was their remorselessness as much as anything else. Newcastle forced Barcelona back in the second half and Flick’s team struggled to create, albeit Robert Lewandowski prodded just off target from a Raphinha cross on 66 minutes.

Both managers made effective substitutions, Howe getting Gordon on up front as part of a triple change that included the introductions of Murphy and Tino Livramento.

There was a glimpse of Marcus Rashford on the Barcelona left and, after Barnes had his moment, there was also Olmo.