Howe relishing Champions League knockout match at Camp Nou

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has encouraged his side to relish the opportunity to play against Barcelona at Camp Nou in a Champions League knockout match.

The Magpies head to Spain following a 1-1 draw in the last-16 first leg at St. James’ Park last week, when Lamine Yamal scored a stoppage-time penalty to level the tie.

Barcelona have won both of their previous home games against Newcastle in the Champions League, beating them 1-0 in November 1997 and 3-1 in December 2002.

Newcastle have also lost five of their six away games against Spanish sides in all competitions, with this their first since a 2-1 loss at Deportivo de La Coruna in the 2005 Intertoto Cup.

Last week’s draw was the 12th time an English side has failed to beat Barcelona in the first leg of a Champions League knockout stage tie.

Just three of the previous 11 have progressed to the next round – Chelsea in 2004-05 (last 16), Manchester United in 2007-08 (semi-final) and Liverpool in 2018-19 (semi-final) – and Howe believes his side have the ability to follow suit.

“We’ve got an experienced group and players who have played in so many big games now,” said Howe.

“You want the size of the game to lift the players and to make us grow. Certainly, we can’t shrink. From my side, it’s about getting our plan right.

Training time at the Camp Nou pic.twitter.com/UqD4DubOls

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“The details of this game are going to be important. Dealing with their strengths and also trying to produce our best moments.

“I think when you consider the two games we’ve had against Barcelona, we’ve had some really good passages of play, some good opportunities to score, but we haven’t beaten them, so that’s the challenge.

“We’re in a different environment, one we’ve never been to before, and we’ll enjoy the game when it comes, but we’ll only truly enjoy it if we deliver what we know we need to, and I think we’re in a good place to do that.

“We don’t underestimate the size of the task, but we believe in ourselves at the same time.”