Olympique de Marseille are in good shape before their decisive Champions League match against Newcastle on Tuesday, after their trip to Nice (1-5). But the Phocaeans are not the only ones to have been full of confidence three days before the meeting. The Magpies, despite being in a crisis of results in this first part of the season, beat Manchester City (2-1) on Saturday for the 12th day of the Premier League. In a melting St James’ Park, Eddie Howe’s players created a surprise and offered an incredible assist to Arsenal before the derby against Tottenham on Sunday.
The hero of the match for Newcastle is Harvey Barnes. The English attacking midfielder scored twice in the second half, showing incredible mentality after missing a miss at the half-hour mark in front of the empty goal. Barnes, with a dry strike on a serve from Bruno Guimaraes (1-0, 63rd), then on a huge mess in the area from Gianluigi Donnarumma (2-1, 70th), twice deceived the former Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper to reward a valiant and intense performance.
Arsenal are rubbing their hands
Ruben Dias had equalized by remaining high on a set piece (1-1, 68th), but the Citizens did not preserve the tie for long in an end to the day to be forgotten for Pep Guardiola and his men, tense at the final whistle. Manchester City risks finding themselves 7 points behind the Gunners in the event of the latter’s victory against Spurs. Erling Haaland and his attacking partners remained silent, which has not really happened recently.
The Skyblues will try to get back on track at home against Leverkusen in the Champions League this week, while Newcastle will try to do better than during their last trip to the Vélodrome in 2004, when a certain Didier Drogba scored a double.
