Newcastle supervisor Eddie Howe hailed his group’s “gutsy show” after the Magpies fell to a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona within the Champions League at St James’ Park on Thursday.
Marcus Rashford, on mortgage at Barca from Manchester United, scored a wonderful second-half brace earlier than Anthony Gordon pulled one again late on in what was an enthralling encounter on Tyneside.
Gordon’s strike, ultimately, proved to be little greater than comfort, however for giant spells the hosts outplayed their Catalan opponents, who had been lacking teenage star Lamine Yamal via harm.
And the Magpies boss was fast to acknowledge his gamers’ efforts, however added that these events are solely made actually particular with a victory.
“I feel we had been actually within the recreation, I didn’t really feel we had been ever out of it,” Howe instructed TNT Sports activities.
“I’m upset we didn’t rating the primary purpose of the sport, I feel that was essential tonight, on reflection and we had the possibilities to do this within the first half.
“I assumed it was a extremely wholehearted and gutsy show from us, maybe missing that little bit of high quality to make us win.
“When the mud settles, we’ll look again in a different way with the efficiency. I feel it was efficiency, it was a powerful effort, however these nights are solely magical in case you win.
“However I feel we’ll study and develop our recreation on nights like this.”
Subsequent up for Newcastle is a visit to Bournemouth within the Premier League on Sunday earlier than they host Bradford Metropolis within the EFL Cup Third Spherical on Wednesday.
