Newcastle v Barcelona live: Champions League team news, line-ups and more

“I’m very excited. I’ve never faced Barcelona before. It’s one of the teams that I watched when I was young,” said Newcastle’s captain on the eve of the Champions League opener.

“The player that made me fall in love with football was Ronaldinho, so I always watched Barcelona play, and after [Andres] Iniesta, Xavi, [Lionel] Messi – and it’s nice to see another Brazilian sign there again, Raphinha, so we’re very excited.

“I think we have one of the best midfields in the Premier League, to be honest, and now we have to prove it in the Champions League as well.”

Sky Sports News managed to track down Tino Asprilla before tonight’s match, with the hat-trick hero from 1997 back on Tyneside for the latest clash between Newcastle and Barcelona.

“Very happy to be here,” he told Sky. “I love coming back to the city. I feel the love I had nearly 30 years ago. I’m looking forward to it and we’re hoping to get the best result possible.

“I remember everything. It was a phenomenal night. I didn’t expect to play but I came out, heard the Champions League music… it’s incredible to be here. The whole city is behind the lads. A 3-2 win again would be amazing.”

Frenkie de Jong returns from injury to start for Barcelona, who name Marcus Rashford in their starting line-up alongside Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha for the visit to St James’ Park.

Ronald Araujo returns at centre-back to captain the visitors. Lamine Yamal is not available due to injury while Gavi and Alejandro Balde are out.

Nick Woltemade and Jacob Murphy drop to the bench as Eddie Howe makes two changes from the side that started against Wolves.

They are replaced by Anthony Elanga and Anthony Gordon, who returns for the first time since his red card against Liverpool last month.

New signing Yoane Wissa has been ruled out until October due to a knee injury, while Jacob Ramsey is also unavailable.

Newcastle XI: Pope; Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento; Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton; Elanga, Gordon, Barnes

Barcelona XI: Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Martin; De Jong, Pedri, Fermin; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Rashford

Will Nick Woltemade get the chance to add to his dream Newcastle start after scoring on his debut against Wolves? The team news will drop in the next few minutes.

Newcastle claimed one of the best results in their modern history when they humbled Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 on their Champions League return two years ago.

The Magpies ultimately did not progress but Eddie Howe believes his team are “stronger” this time around as they prepare to face Barcelona.

“It feels different, the build-up is different. We hadn’t done that before and that experience will help us,” Howe said.

“I think the squad is arguably stronger than it was two years ago. Certainly the squad is different and I will back the quality we have.

“They are all tough games, tough-looking fixtures and the early games are really important for us to set the foundations.”

“For me, it’s a shame he’s not playing. I’m disappointed that we don’t get to see him at his best playing in the game,” the Newcastle boss said before facing Barcelona.

“But whoever they play, they’ve got real pace in wide areas, we know that. They’ve got international players that will challenge us in different ways, so I think structurally our team performance has got to be really strong, we’ve got to defend well in wide areas, so we’re looking forward to that battle.”

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick is confident there is more to come from “unbelievable” England striker Marcus Rashford as he returns to his native country with Champions League points at stake.

The 27-year-old, who scored in his country’s 5-0 World Cup qualifier victory over Serbia last week, will hope to repeat the feat against Newcastle at St James’ Park on Thursday evening in the colours of the club he has joined on loan from Manchester United for the season.

Eddie Howe has insisted Newcastle are not along for the ride as they embark upon a new Champions League campaign against Barcelona having “failed” two seasons ago.

The Magpies announced their return to the biggest European stage in October 2023 when they took Paris St Germain apart at St James’ Park with a 4-1 victory, which gave them every chance of qualifying for the knockout stage.

Ultimately they did not make it out of the group and that is very much in head coach Howe’s mind as he prepares for a similarly testing fixture in this season’s opener against Hansi Flick’s men.