It ended Newcastle 3 Benfica 0.
Anthony Gordon opened the scoring when he finished off a game-changing team move.
A goal before half-time, Newcastle dominated the second forty-five.
The second goal finally came when a brilliant throw from Nick Pope in the opposition half released Harvey Barnes and his run and finish ended with a shot via the post.
Man of the match Anthony Gordon then with a devastating run to open Benfica before unselfishly playing in Barnes for his second.
Looking at the individuals in black and white, it’s interesting to get an independent perspective on how this turned out.
‘Whoscored ratings use data from every single Premier League match, over 200 raw statistics included in the automated calculation of a player’s rating, weighted by their influence within the game.
“Every major event is taken into account, with any positive or negative impact on viewing figures weighed in relation to the area of the pitch and its outcome.”
Now who scored have published their automated player ratings for this Newcastle 3 Benfica 0 match:
(The Whoscored display can only show four subs at a time, Joelinton has a rating of 7.0)
As you can see, eleven players were rated 7.0 or higher, ten of which played for United (including two NUFC substitutes).
The bottom line is that the only Benfica player to receive a rating of 7.0 or higher was their goalkeeper Trubin (7.8), who made a number of quality saves to prevent the score from potentially doubling.
Gordon (8.5) is the best player on the field and rightly receives the highest MOTM rating.
No one had a bad match, but super sub Harvey Barnes (8.4) was rated second after two cool finishes, with Dan Burn (8.2) in third.
An automated rating system will never be perfect and I’m not sure how the excellent and hardworking Nick Woltemade only got a 6.9.
Newcastle 3 Benfica 0 – Tuesday October 21, 2025 8:00 PM
(Statistics via BBC Sports)
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Gordon 32, Barnes 70.83
Benfica:
Possess was Newcastle 52% Benfica 48%
Total shots were Newcastle 19 Benfica 7
Shots on target were Newcastle 10 Benfica 2
Corners were Newcastle 12 Benfica 8
Touches in the box Newcastle 38 Benfica 12
Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Bruno (Willock 90), Ramsey (Joelinton 63), Miley, Gordon (Elanga 85), Woltemade (Osula 85), Jacob Murphy (Barnes 63)
Unused subs:
Thompson, Ramsdale, Schar, Tonali, Krafth, Alex Murphy
(Newcastle 3 Benfica 0 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)
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