The road ahead for Eddie Howe’s European Mags
Thursday saw the draw take place for the Champions League league phase, throwing up a number of huge ties at home and on the road.
Sitting in pot 4 always meant United would get some glamour ties, but drawing four of last season’s league champions (Barcelona, PSV, Union SG & PSG) represents some of the toughest teams in the draw outright. Throw in the fact that all Newcastle’s opponents come from the top eight leagues in Europe (for reference, Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan qualified from a league ranked 34th out of 50), and the draw certainly hasn’t given United any ‘gimmes.’
Here are some reflections on the draw, our opponents, and their (and our shared) history:
FC Barcelona (H)
The Glamour Tie. Our shared history needs no introductions, but I will indulge: Bobby, Tino’s hat-trick, and Ameobi scoring at the Camp Nou. All amazing memories, but Asprilla’s hat-trick in the 3-2 win for a depleted United against a Barca side containing Luís Figo, Rivaldo, and Luis Enrique on St. James’ Park’s Champions League debut has lived long in the memory.
Nearly 30 years have passed, and Barcelona will arrive as no less formidable opponents. The 28-times La Liga champions boast some of the best players in the world, including Lamine Yamal, Pedri, and, rumoured early summer United goalkeeper target, Joan García.
Despite the circus surrounding their finances (and they’re certainly a pantomime), Barcelona can also count Spanish internationals Gavi and Pau Cubarsí, Robert Lewandowski (121 goal involvements in 146 apps) and former Leeds man Raphinha (101 goal involvements in 146 apps) amongst their squads’ heavy-hitters. Oh, and they have Marcus Rashford too…
It’s sure to be a night of heady emotion at SJP for this tie, and the lads will need the crowd to be at PSG levels to get something, but this is what the competition is all about.
Paris Saint-Germain FC (A)
The Revenge Tie. PSG are a side with which we share a bit more recent history, though this one feels more like unfinished business. Despite the thumping 4-1 victory at SJP in our last Champions League campaign, with the memories of the victory and the atmosphere still vivid for anyone lucky enough to be there on the night, the return tie at the Parc des Princes still rankles with injustice.
It was never a penalty, and it’s a shame we aren’t welcoming them back to Tyneside to hopefully thump them again. Instead, the trip to France’s capital will probably be the toughest tie of the league phase as PSG have gone on to be crowned Champions League winners last time around.
They have a young, impressive team (including Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Désiré Doué) which is disparate to the sulky ‘Galacticos’ team we played previously and will present a very different challenge to what they were two seasons ago. Led by an equally impressive manager in Luis Enrique, we will have to be at our very best to get something from the game.
S.L. Benfica (H)
A 2012/13 UEFA Cup QF rematch. Benfica are the record winners of the Portuguese Primera Liga with 38 titles and are two-time European Cup winners in ’61 and ’62. Captained by former Man City player Nicolás Otamendi (alongside coveted wonderkid Antonio Silva), they were up there with one of the most difficult draws from pot 2.
Many of their squad are not household names (although a few will be familiar to Football Manager aficionados including Norwegian Andreas Schjelderup and Ukrainian Heorhiy Sudakov), but they will be no mugs, although it’s much better to be playing them at home rather than at the far superior Stadium of Light (Estádio da Luz).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (A)
The Will Osula derby? It’s also a reunion with a side we have a 100% record against. Jokes aside, the memories of Shearer’s hat-trick in the home tie and Shola and Lua Lua scoring in the away tie back in 2003— in a pair of 3-1 wins nearly 23 years ago— are very positive.
Leverkusen were incredibly impressive two seasons ago when they won their first Bundesliga title unbeaten with a record of 28 wins and six draws from 34 games. They completed a league and cup double by adding the DFB Pokal too. Unfortunately for them, they have since been picked clean, losing their title-winning manager Xabi Alonso, and key players like Wirtz, Frimpong, Xhaka and Kovar, with Boniface and Hincapié seemingly being shopped around or on the verge of leaving too.
It’ll be a further reunion with Erik ten Hag, and you’d like to think Eddie Howe would be keen to get another one over the former Newton Heath manager and bring three points back from Germany.
PSV Eindhoven (H)
Another Bobby derby. PSV are no mugs though, as they proved last season when they chased down Ajax to win the Eredivisie title; with five games left, they trailed Ajax by nine points, an almost forgone conclusion, but a combination of five straight wins and Ajax completely bottling it saw PSV take a dramatic title win. They also won all 17 games in the league between August 2023 and January 2024, showing that they will have a much easier time of it domestically than Newcastle will.
PSV won two Eredivisie titles under Robson and have won 26 in total alongside 11 KNVB Cups. Nicknamed ‘Boeren’ (farmers/peasants), the side have some incredible alumni including Ruud Gullit, Romário, Ronaldo and Arjen Robben. United also signed Georginio Wijnaldum from them in 2015 for £14.5m.
Their current squad isn’t quite as glamorous with the most recognisable names being former Spurs man Ivan Perišić, USA international Sergiño Dest and one-time United target Alassane Pléa (now 32), and you would think, just 24 hours removed from the draw, Newcastle would be looking to get three points from this fixture.
Olympique de Marseille (A)
A spicy away trip with those who were there in 2004, calling it a trip not for the faint-hearted, with home fans lighting bonfires inside the ground. A pre-stardom Didier Drogba settled the UEFA Cup semi-final tie with a brace in the second leg, one in the 18th minute and another in the 82nd, to kill the tie off when United had been pushing for an away goal that would’ve seen them through.
Marseille have won 26 Ligue 1 titles, although the last was in 2009/10. Their squad contains a few more recognisable names, including the English trio CJ Egan-Riley, Angel Gomes, and the disgraced Mason Greenwood. Much-maligned Newcastle-linked Argentinian international Leonardo Balerdi is still there, alongside a much faded Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang (now 36) and Everton contract burner, and social media gag-man Neal Maupay.
Their support is dominated by various ‘ultras’ groups who occupy both ‘Curva’ ends behind the goals and are often subject to travel bans for domestic games in France (like they are for against Lyon this weekend due to their ferocity and penchant for games). Another tough tie, although you would like to think we could get a result in Southern France.
Athletic de Bilbao (H)
United have a much more cordial relationship with our Basque brothers. Bilbao even posted a tweet immediately following the draw, celebrating our shared past and the fact that the two sides will be meeting in a competitive fixture once again.
The positive relationship extends from a 1994 UEFA Cup tie, a two-legged affair which saw Bilbao progress on away goals, before Rob Lee picked them as the opponents for his testimonial, and the two sides played a preseason friendly in July 2022 in which Wor Flags designated part of the display in honour of the Basque club.
Probably the toughest side (barring ourselves) available in pot 4, they boast Spanish internationals Unai Simón and star man Nico Williams, and his brother Iñaki. Another fixture which is less daunting because it will be played at SJP, but Bilbao will be a tough opponent.
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (A)
The Unknown One. The Belgian champions share a nickname with Juventus ‘The Old Lady’, are 12 times league champions but only ended a 90-year championship drought last season. Owned by Tony Bloom, the Brighton supremo has brought his data-heavy scouting style to Union SG, which sees their squad packed with players from across the globe.
Perhaps the most well-known is Kevin Mac Allister of Home…, I mean Liverpool’s Alexis’ brother and former Southampton man Sofiane Boufal. They also have two Englishmen in their squad: Christian Burgess (who is the side’s captain) and Geordie Ross Sykes, who celebrated wildly when the draw was made.
Last season they played their European games away from their 9,400-seater Joseph Marien Stadium, and you would assume they will have to again as UEFA’s stadium rules are long and convoluted. Perhaps the away game we should be targeting for 3 points right off the bat, but the Belgians, in their first-ever Champions League campaign, will want to make an impression in front of their home support— no matter what stadium they will be playing in.
These eight opponents probably mean the fixture order will be crucial for United, in terms of where matches fall in relation to the domestic calendar, in determining how we progress through the tournament. But with league phase games played up until January, the calibre of opposition, our shared history with some of the sides, and the hostility of certain away fixtures, United are sure to be in for a hell of a ride.
