Newcastle 2-0 Athletic Club: Report, result and goals as Burn and Joelinton headers seal third straight Champions League win for Magpies
Newcastle secured their third straight win in the Champions League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Athletic Club at St James’ Park.
Dan Burn’s brilliant header put the hosts ahead in the first half before Joelinton nodded in a second after the break against an Athletic side missing many of their key stars.
Having lost to Barcelona in their first game of the league phase, the Magpies have now raced into the top eight of the standings with three straight wins, putting them well in the race to seal automatic progression to the last 16.
Newcastle 2-0 Athletic Club as it happened
Joelinton thought he had given the Magpies the lead after bringing down a ball over the top well before confidently slotting home but the midfielder was flagged just offside.
But the halting of the home crowd’s celebrations was only brief as Burn peeled off at the back post to power a brilliant header into the far corner from Kieran Trippier’s free-kick.
Athletic, who had impressed before the goal, continued to threaten though and they hit the post twice within a few minutes, first through Unai Gomez and then Adama Boiro with a nice strike from the edge of the box.
Newcastle should probably have gone two up just before the half-four mark when Nick Woltemade couldn’t get his close-range header on target after Trippier’s cross had put on a plate for the striker.
Another huge chance went begging for the hosts before the break when Joelinton managed to take the ball round the goalkeeper but somehow blazed his shot over the bar when it looked easier to score.
But the Brazilian would get his goal only four minutes after the restart through another header, with Harvey Barnes standing the ball up for the 29-year-old to power in.
Victory felt rather inevitable after that moment though Nick Pope was still kept busy by the visitors, with the England keeper having to be alert to get a hand to a long-range Nico Serrano strike.
But any moments of momentum for Athletic Club were all too fleeting and Eddie Howe’s men were able to see out what was a comfortable victory on Tyneside.