Barcelona put on a thrilling second-half show to rout Newcastle United 7-2 at the Camp Nou and progress to the Champions League quarterfinals 8-3 on aggregate.
After an entertaining back-and-forth first half, which concluded with Lamine Yamal putting the home side ahead for the third time, Barcelona tore Newcastle apart in the second half with four unanswered goals to decimate the Premier League side’s challenge.
Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski both scored twice, with the Spanish champions’ other goals coming from Marc Bernal and Fermín López.
Anthony Elanga scored twice in the first half to temporarily keep Newcastle’s hopes alive of a famous upset against the five-time European champions.
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Neither side will have been happy with their defensive display, but Barcelona eventually took a chaotic game by the scruff of the neck to punish a series of errors as the visitors succumbed to largely self-inflicted wounds.
The seven goals equals the most Barcelona has scored in a Champions League knockout match, after a 7-1 against Bayer Leverkusen at the same stage of the competition in 2011-12.
Newcastle’s seven goals conceded, meanwhile, is tied for the most in a game by an English team in UEFA competitions, after Tottenham’s 7-2 loss to Bayern Munich in October 2019.
Tied at 1-1 after the first leg in Newcastle, Barcelona went ahead twice in the first 20 minutes and twice Newcastle soon leveled with rare goals from Elanga. The Sweden winger had not scored in 35 previous games this season in the Premier League or Champions League yet struck twice in a 13-minute spell at Camp Nou.
Momentum swung when Yamal scored a penalty with the last kick of the half to give Barcelona a lead at 3-2 it would not give up again. Last week, the 18-year-old Yamal’s penalty deep in stoppage time denied Newcastle a first-leg win.
LaLiga again topped the Premier League one day after Real Madrid won 2-1 at Manchester City to complete a 5-1 aggregate score. In Madrid, captain Federico Valverde’s first-half hat trick had swatted Man City aside.
Later Wednesday, Atletico Madrid will start 5-2 up on Tottenham in the second leg of their round-of-16 clash.
Barcelona and Atletico will meet in the quarterfinals if the Madrid club protects its first-leg lead in north London.
ESPN Research, The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.
