Newcastle rue 'errors' after Barcelona claim lopsided second-leg victory

Newcastle United were in their Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona for the first three halves.

Then the floodgates opened.

Barça scored five straight goals to blow the doors open on Wednesday's second leg, ultimately earning a 7-2 victory (8-3 on aggregate) to advance to the quarter-finals. It was a cruel reminder of just how high a level is needed to compete in Europe's top club tournament, as Newcastle surely felt that they were still in the contest after Anthony Elanga's two first-half goals put the Magpies on level terms with the Catalans until just before halftime, when Kieran Trippier fouled Raphinha to set Barcelona's goalfest in motion.

"Tough way to go out," Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said. "Really strange to sum that up. First half we were excellent, albeit both halves we didn't defend properly in key areas. In the second half we weren't as good.

"Psychologically, it was a tough one for the lads. [Barça] had that penalty right before halftime and scored quite quickly after halftime and psychologically, we didn’t recover."

Howe may have been understating things a bit, as the Magpies went toe-to-toe with the La Liga giants until Lamine Yamal converted the penalty in stoppage time of the first half. Prior to that fateful moment, Newcastle had fought to a 1-1 draw in last week's first leg and answered each of Barcelona's early goals on Wednesday.

For Elanga, the Magpies' blunders were as much to blame for the outcome as Barcelona's brilliance.

"Today it was the errors that cost us, really," the goalscorer said. "The support we had from the fans was amazing. Proud of the lads of how far we’ve come in the competition. A shame we went out the way we did, but we can reflect on our errors and work on them for Sunday.

"Even in the last bit, I thought there might have been a penalty. If the referee gives one, he have to give the other right,''?

"We played really well in the first half, I think we could’ve built on that in the second. We can’t change it now. It happens in football. You make errors, you get punished, especially against teams like Barcelona. Everyone can make mistakes but we can’t focus on it too much."

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