Newcastle vs Barcelona prediction, best bets, odds & predicted line-ups: Messy big night out for Magpies

Barcelona are Newcastle’s first opponents upon their return to the Champions League and look well-placed to deliver a painful reminder of the standard of the competition at St James’ Park (8pm, TNT Sports 1) .

The Magpies missed out on Europe last season having qualified for the 2023/24 Champions League, when they were knocked out in the group stages.

In Barcelona, they are facing one of the joint-favourites for the title on betting sites, with the Spanish side and Liverpool both having Champions League odds of 6/1.

You can get 40/1 on Eddie Howe’s side, who won just one game last time out in the UCL, but it did come against the current champions Paris St-Germain when they beat them 4-1 at St James’ Park with goals from Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar.

The two sides have only met four times before, all in the Champions League, with the Magpies famously winning the first meeting 3-2 before going on to lose the next three.

A hat-trick from Faustino Asprilla helped Kenny Dalglish’s side to victory back in 1997, against a Barcelona side that included the likes of Luis Enrique and Luis Figo, who were both on the scoresheet.

They lost the return leg at the Nou Camp 1-0 when Michael Reiziger scored the only goal of the game. The only other meetings came in the 2002/03 group stages when the Spanish side won the two games with a 5-1 aggregate.

After winning the domestic treble last season, Barca coach Hansi Flick would love to guide the Blaugrana to their first Champions League victory since 2015, when they beat Juventus 3-1 thanks to goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

They have started the new season well with three wins and a draw in La Liga, stretching an excellent run of form that’s seen them lose just two of their last 39 games dating back to 21 December 2024.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have won just one of their opening four games, but that was last time out against Wolves when Nick Woltemade scored the only goal of the game on his debut.

Goals look like they are going to be the problem for Newcastle, at least in the short term, after losing Alexander Isak to Liverpool on transfer deadline day, while new signing Yoane Wissa is sidelined with a knee injury.

Howe’s men did score twice against Liverpool before they were beaten 3-2 and while they have managed clean sheets in their three other fixtures, trying to stop Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and co from scoring is a different proposition to keeping Wolves out.

Football betting sites are understandably backing the Spanish giants for the win but Howe will be hoping his side can catch them cold as Monaco did 12 months ago, the Ligue 1 side securing a 2-1 win in the competition’s opening fixture.

It was still early days under Flick back then and there can be little doubt they’ve improved a lot since then. Their attack has looked sharp in the opening rounds of La Liga, netting six against Valencia at the weekend, and they may cause the Newcastle defence may issues, even without the injured Lamine Yamal.

Newcastle vs Barcelona prediction: Barcelona to score over 2.5 goals - 12/5 Bet365

Whenever Barcelona are in action, it’s hard to look beyond Raphinha to score and he already has three goals this season, including two last time out against Valencia.

He scored 38 goals for club and country last season, including a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Bayern Munich and two braces against Benfica as he finished as the joint top scorer in the Champions League.

He bagged 13 UCL goals last term and can pick up from where he left off at St James’ Park.

Newcastle vs Barcelona prediction: Raphinha to score at any time - 5/2 Betway

Using our Newcastle vs Barcelona best bets, we can put together a bet builder for the game. Our bet builder will feature three legs and returns at 11/2 at Ladbrokes.

Here are our selections:

Newcastle: New signing Yoane Wissa will be once again missing for the home side as he waits to make his debut after suffering a knee injury on international duty with DR Congo. Jacob Ramsey is the only other injury concern, and he is likely to be out until after the next international break. But the good news is that Anthony Gordon is available despite still being suspended domestically for one more game.

Barcelona: Lamine Yamal is set to miss the match with a groin problem. Gavi, Alejandro Balde and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen will all miss out and there are doubts over Frenkie de Jong who missed Sunday’s game with a muscular injury.

Newcastle: Pope, Trippier, Burn, Botman, Schär, Livramento, Tonali, Miley, Guimarães, Gordon, Woltemade

Barcelona: J García, Koundé, E García, Araujo, Martin, Pedri, López, Rashford, Olmo, Raphinha, Torres

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