Welcome to the Newcastle v Benfica preview.
Tuesday 21st October – An 8pm kick-off.
The Toon play their third Champions League match of the campaign this Tuesday night, hosting Jose Mourinho’s Benfica.
NUFC will be looking to build on a fantastic 4-0 away victory over Union S-G, whereas Benfica are desperate to gain their first Champions League points of the campaign.
Mourinho is no stranger to St James’ Park, having endured a dreadful managerial record when visiting the Toon, stretching all the way back to his time as a Barcelona coach on the night Asprilla scored his famous hat-trick.
Mourinho always takes the time to have a moment of pre-match reflection in the centre circle when visiting Tyneside, remembering his late mentor Sir Bobby Robson.
When managing Man U to defeat against Newcastle United in 2018, Jose Mourinho said he had a little smile as he considers himself a little magpie. There’s no room for sentiment this Tuesday however, as three more points for the Toon could go a long way to securing a place in the next stage of the Champions League.
Form
Newcastle have played two Champions League matches this season, winning one and losing one. We started the campaign at home to Barcelona and were giving a good account of ourselves until an impressive brace from Marcus Rashford saw us go two goals down early on in the second half. Antony Gordon pulled one back but unfortunately there wasn’t time to salvage what would have been a memorable draw. We then travelled to Belgium to face an unbeaten Union SG and completely outplayed our opponents. First half goals from Woltemade and Gordon had us two up at half-time, before further goals from Gordon (both pens) and Barnes gave us our biggest ever Champions League victory.
Benfica have also played two Champions League games this season. They have lost both, first going down 3-2 at home to Qarabag FK before also losing 1-0 at Chelsea. They will need to get something from this match to stay in contention for a place in the top eight that guarantees participation in the next stage.
Last time out
Newcastle travelled to Brighton on Saturday and stuttered throughout a poor first half performance that saw us one down at half-time. We looked brighter as an attacking force in the second half and appeared to have salvaged a draw through Woltemade’s stylish backheel, but unfortunately succumbed to a late strike from nemesis Danny Welbeck who scored the brace that snatched all three points for the seagulls.
Benfica travelled away to Chavas on Friday evening in the Portuguese cup and ran out 2-0 winners. They rested a number of players but were still able to comfortably see off lower league opposition.
Stat attack!
Newcastle have never lost a competitive home match against Portuguese opposition.
The Toon have hosted seven matches against sides from Portugal at St James’ Park, winning four and drawing three.
NUFC and Benfica have only played each other twice. Read all about that two-legged encounter below.
Memorable match
In 2012/13, Alan Pardew had the chance to salvage something from a desperately disappointing league campaign, by bringing home the Europa League trophy. A two legged quarter-final against Benfica got off to the absolute dream start when Papiss Demba Cisse netted a crucial away goal at the real Stadium of Light. Things almost got even better for NUFC when our striker twice hit the post as United went in search of further goals. Unfortunately, Benfica found an equaliser before half-time and the second half took a turn for the worse. Our opponents were able to secure a 3-1 win that left us with a mountain to climb in the second leg.
The home match a week later would hinge on whether or not we could build on our away goal and a Cisse header on seventy minutes meant we only had to score once more to go through. The Toon surged forward looking to force our way into the semi-final. The moment seemed set when talisman Ben Arfa burst into the area but he could only blast his effort high over the bar. Benfica hit us on the break in injury time and their equaliser ended the tie as a contest and dumped us out of Europe. Final Score Newcastle 1-1 Benfica (2-4 on aggregate).
Played for both
Helder only played twelve times for the Toon under Sir Bobby Robson in 99/00 but his place in our history is assured due to the fact his one goal came in our first ever visit to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light. A bullet header put us 2-0 up after just twenty minutes. Unfortunately, our enemies pulled two back (the equaliser ridiculously offside) and we had to be content with a point. He played for Benfica for four and a half years from 1992 and played over one hundred and twenty-five matches for the Portuguese powerhouses.
Laurent Robert signed for Sir Bobby in 2001 and it’s safe to say he hit the ground running with a number of match-winning performances, including destroying Middlesbrough in a 4-1 win and blasting home a fabulous free-kick in an incredible victory over champions Man United. He was instrumental in our run to the top of the league by Christmas 2001 and his match-winning performance at Highbury has gone down in Geordie folklore. Blessed with the ability to excite and frustrate in equal measure (often within seconds of each other), perhaps the highlight of his time at Newcastle was when he decided to take part in his very own ‘goal of the month’ competition, scoring two absolute beauties in a 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. He spent four seasons at the Toon and you could probably fill a book with anecdotes about the fortunes of NUFC in this era. From challenging for titles and reaching the last sixteen of the Champions League, to falling out with Graeme Souness and being dropped for our disastrous defeat against Sporting Lisbon, things were never dull with Laurent around. He left the pitch on the last day of the 04/05 season wearing nothing but a pair of grey underpants and was never again seen at NUFC. He played thirteen games for Benfica in 2006 and scored two goals.
Issue 194 – 11 June 2005
Odysseas Vlachodimos is currently on loan from Newcastle to Spanish side Sevilla. The goalkeeper played one hundred and fifty-one games for Benfica between 2018 and 2023 but is yet to dirty his gloves for the Magpies.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 2-1 defeat away at Brighton:
“Tough tough result for us. Don’t think we played well for half an hour of that first half. We made a bright start to and looked in a good place initially, then we fell away from that. We were loose on the ball in that first period and ended up being in transition an awful lot. I wasn’t happy with the first half and I think it was a time to try and shake the team up, to try and get new energy onto the pitch. Different players with different qualities, and I thought the team benefited. We didn’t play with our normal clarity on the ball. Much better in the second half, much more like ourselves and in the end we’re really disappointed to lose. We were much better with the changes in the second half, I thought it was a much brighter performance and much more like ourselves.”
Jose Mourinho after a 2-0 cup win against Chaves:
“We largely controlled the game but I’m not happy because the work we did for this game was different. We wanted more intensity in our attacking play and we were slow but I like to talk about the opponents when they play well to make our job difficult. Chaves are a good team and Filipe is a great coach; they were very well organised. It’s not easy playing against a line of five at the back and four more in front of them, as we saw with many examples in the recent international games,”
Charity
Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.
For further info and/or to donate online go HERE.
Prediction
This is the perfect opportunity to put the disappointment of Saturday behind us. Benfica will be tough opponents but there’s something special about the European nights under the lights at St James’ Park and I think this will be a memorable Champions League win. Woltemade is on the top of his game at present and I fancy him to lead the Toon to victory with both goals. Newcastle 2-1 Benfica.
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