Welcome to the Newcastle vs Benfica preview.
Tuesday, October 21 – Kick-off 8:00 PM.
The Toon will play their third Champions League match of the season on Tuesday evening, hosting Jose Mourinho’s Benfica.
NUFC will look to build on a fantastic 4-0 win over Union SG as Benfica are desperate for their first Champions League points of the season.
Mourinho is no stranger to St. James’ Park. He has had a terrible record during his visit to the Toon, dating back to his time as Barcelona coach on the night Asprilla scored his famous hat-trick.
Mourinho always takes time for a pre-match moment of reflection in the center circle when he visits Tyneside, in memory of his late mentor Sir Bobby Robson.
When José Mourinho managed to beat Man U against Newcastle United in 2018, he said he had a small smile because he considers himself a little magpie. However, there is no room for sentiment this Tuesday as three more points for the Toon could go a long way towards securing a place in the next stage of the Champions League.
Form
Newcastle played two Champions League games this season, winning one and losing one. We started the campaign at home to Barcelona and gave a good account of ourselves until an impressive goal from Marcus Rashford saw us fall two goals behind early in the second half. Antony Gordon pulled one back, but unfortunately there was no time to save the memorable draw. We then traveled to Belgium to take on an undefeated Union SG and completely defeated our opponents. First half goals from Woltemade and Gordon put us two ahead at half time, before further goals from Gordon (both pins) and Barnes gave us our biggest ever Champions League win.
Benfica also played two Champions League matches this season. They both lost. First they lost 3-2 at home to Qarabag FK, before also losing 1-0 at Chelsea. They will need to take something from this match to stay in contention for a top eight spot that will guarantee entry into the next stage.
Last time out
Newcastle traveled to Brighton on Saturday and stuttered during a poor first-half performance that left us one down at half-time. We looked better as an attacking force in the second half and looked to have salvaged a draw through Woltemade’s stylish back heel, but unfortunately succumbed to a late strike from nemesis Danny Welbeck, who scored the brace that took all three points for the Seagulls.
Benfica traveled to Chavas in the Portuguese Cup on Friday evening and emerged 2-0 winners. They rested a number of players but were still able to comfortably beat lower league opposition.
State attack!
Newcastle have never lost a competitive home match against Portuguese opponents.
The Toon have hosted seven matches against teams from Portugal at St James’ Park, winning four and drawing three.
NUFC and Benfica only played each other twice. Read all about that two-legged encounter below.
Memorable match
In 2012/13, Alan Pardew was given the chance to salvage something from a desperately disappointing league campaign by taking home the Europa League trophy. A two-legged quarter-final against Benfica got off to an absolute dream start as Papiss Demba Cisse scored a crucial away goal at the real-life Stadium of Light. Things almost got better for NUFC when our striker hit the post twice as United looked for further goals. Unfortunately, Benfica found the equalizer before half time and the second half got worse. Our opponents managed to secure a 3-1 victory, leaving us with a mountain to climb in the second leg.
The home game a week later would depend on whether we could build on our away goal and a Cisse header after seventy minutes meant we only had to score once more to go through. De Toon surged forward and tried to force our way to the semi-finals. The moment seemed set when talisman Ben Arfa burst into the area, but he could only fire his effort high over the bar. Benfica hit us on the break in stoppage time and their equalizer ended the tie as a match and dumped us out of Europe. Final score Newcastle 1-1 Benfica (2-4 on aggregate).
Played for both
Bright made just twelve appearances for the Toon under Sir Bobby Robson in 99/00, but his place in our history is assured thanks to the fact that his only goal came on our first ever visit to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light. A bullet header gave the team a 2-0 lead after just twenty minutes. Unfortunately, our enemies pulled two back (the equalizer was ridiculously offside) and we had to settle for a point. He played for Benfica for four and a half years from 1992 and played more than one hundred and twenty-five games for the Portuguese superpowers.
Laurent Robert signed for Sir Bobby in 2001 and it’s safe to say he hit the ground running with a number of match-winning performances, including destroying Middlesbrough in a 4-1 win and firing in a fantastic free-kick in an incredible win over champions Man United. He was instrumental in our quest to the top of the league by Christmas 2001 and his match-winning performance at Highbury has gone down in Geordie folklore. Blessed with the ability to excite and frustrate in equal measure (often within seconds of each other), perhaps the highlight of his time at Newcastle was when he decided to take part in his own ‘goal of the month’ competition, scoring two absolute beauties in a 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. He spent four seasons with the Toon and you could probably fill a book with anecdotes about the fortunes of NUFC during this time. From competing for titles and reaching the last 16 of the Champions League, to falling out with Graeme Souness and dropping out due to our disastrous defeat to Sporting Lisbon, there was never a dull moment with Laurent around. He left the field on the last day of the 04/05 season in nothing but gray underpants and was never seen at NUFC again. He played thirteen games for Benfica in 2006 and scored two goals.
Issue 194 – June 11, 2005
Odysseas Vlachodimos is currently on loan from Newcastle to Spanish side Sevilla. The goalkeeper made one hundred and fifty-one appearances for Benfica between 2018 and 2023, but is yet to get his gloves dirty for the Magpies.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 2-1 defeat away at Brighton:
“Difficult result for us. Don’t think we played well for half an hour in that first half. We started well and looked good initially, but then we faded. We were loose on the ball that first period and ended up spending a lot of time in transition. I wasn’t happy with the first half and I think it was a time to wake up the team, to try to get new energy on the pitch. Different players with different qualities, and I thought the team benefited from it. We not. play with our normal clarity on the ball. Much better in the second half, much more like us and in the end we are very disappointed to lose. We were much better with the changes in the second half, I thought it was a much better performance and a lot more like ourselves.”
Jose Mourinho after a 2-0 cup win against Chaves:
“We were in control of the match for the most part, but I’m not happy because the work we did for this match was different. We wanted more intensity in our attacking play and we were slow, but I like to talk about the opponents when they play well to make our job difficult. Chaves is a good team and Filipe is a great coach; they were very well organised. It’s not easy to play against a row of five at the back and four more in front of them, as we have in many examples seen in recent international competitions”,
Good cause
The Newcastle United Fan Food Bank will once again be raising money across the Gallowgate, gratefully receiving food, cash and toiletries for those in need. Of particular importance are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, liquor, long-life milk, etc.) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give what you can, any donation is greatly appreciated.
For more information and/or to donate online, visit HERE.
Prediction
This is the perfect opportunity to put Saturday’s disappointment behind us. Benfica will be a tough opponent but there is something special about European nights under the lights at St James’ Park and I think this will be a memorable Champions League win. Woltemade is at the top of his game at the moment and I am looking forward to him leading Toon to victory with both goals. Newcastle 2-1 Benfica.
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