Newcastle United defeated Athletic Club 2-0 at St James' Park to claim their third straight victory in the Champions League league phase. Dan Burn opened the scoring with a header in the first half, followed by Joelinton's header early in the second half. The win positions Newcastle in the top eight of the standings after an initial loss to Barcelona.
Newcastle United bounced back from a Premier League defeat to West Ham with a professional 2-0 victory over Athletic Club in the Champions League on Wednesday. The match at St James' Park saw the hosts control large parts of the game, despite Athletic's early threats.
Key moments included Joelinton having an early goal disallowed for offside, quickly followed by Dan Burn's powerful header from Kieran Trippier's free-kick to give Newcastle the lead. Athletic hit the post twice soon after, through Unai Gomez and Adama Boiro, but Newcastle missed chances of their own, with Nick Woltemade heading wide and Joelinton blazing over after rounding the keeper.
Four minutes into the second half, Joelinton made amends by heading in Harvey Barnes' cross to seal the win. Goalkeeper Nick Pope remained alert, saving a long-range strike from Nico Serrano late on. Athletic, missing several key players, struggled to mount a sustained comeback.
Dan Burn, speaking to TNT Sports, called the result 'huge,' saying: 'We said we wanted to respond after the weekend. I knew we would turn up today. We controlled large parts of it. We’ve got nine points now.' He added about his goal: 'I’ve been due one for a while, and then when it came in, I decided I would head it as hard as I could.'
Manager Eddie Howe praised the response, noting: 'Really pleased with today. It was an important response to West Ham.' He highlighted Burn's strike as reminiscent of a previous cup final goal and emphasized the need for consistency across competitions, with a tough away trip to Marseille upcoming.
This result keeps Newcastle in contention for automatic progression to the knockout stage.