Dan Burn’s stunning header helped Newcastle to a 2-0 home win over Athletic Club to move them into the top eight of the Champions League table.
Burn’s wonderful 11th-minute curling header and Joelinton’s close-range effort immediately after half-time gave Newcastle a third straight win in the competition.
There was a sour note in the victory, however, with Anthony Gordon forced off with a first-half injury.
Anthony Gordon went off injured in the first half
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe revealed in his post-match press conference that the forward had suffered a recurrence of a hip problem, but was unable to provide an update on the severity of the injury.
The England international had also come off injured during Sunday’s dismal Premier League defeat at West Ham, which Howe’s side gave the perfect response to at St James’ Park on Wednesday.
Burn said Newcastle would have to rediscover the “ugly” side of the game following that loss at the Hammers – but there was nothing ugly about his opener as he beautifully bent a header home from Kieran Trippier’s free-kick.
Athletic Club, without influential brothers Inaki and Nico Williams, did carry a first-half threat as the Spanish side hit the post twice in the space of 41 seconds.
Nick Woltemade and Joelinton wasted good chances to double the Magpies’ lead just before half-time.
But the latter made up for his miss when he nodded home from Harvey Barnes’ cross just four minutes after the restart.
Joelinton doubled the lead
Newcastle then took their foot off the gas as Nick Pope made two good saves to deny substitute Nico Serrano, ensuring a third straight Champions League clean sheet.
The Toon’s win moves them up to sixth in the Champions League table, and their attentions now turn to Sunday’s trip to Brentford – live on Sky Sports – where they will aim for a first away league win of the season.
Sunday 9th November 12:30pm
Kick off 2:00pm
Burn on header: It’s a one in a hundred goal!
Newcastle defender Dan Burn speaking to TNT Sports:
“I’ve been due one for a while, and the ball came in, I decided I was going to head it as hard as I could, and luckily it went in the far corner, so I was happy with it.
“Sometimes that’s probably about one in a hundred goals, a lot like the cup final one, but I’ll take that. I’ve been due a goal for a while, so at least it was a good header.”
Burn celebrates his beautiful header
On the win: “We said that we wanted to respond from the weekend’s performance. I always knew that we were going to turn up today. I thought we played well and controlled large parts of it. Athletic Club pressed really well but happy with the three points which puts us on nine points now, four games played so it’s good.”
On playing at full-back: “It is a fair shift! But I enjoy it. I said I love playing centre-back, that’s my best position, but at full-back I get to go up and down a little bit more. Definitely tougher on the legs, but I’m happy.”
Howe ‘really pleased’ with response to West Ham loss
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Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe says he is proud to still be in charge as he reaches his four-year anniversary
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe speaking to TNT Sports:
“Really pleased with today because it was an important response to West Ham. I think that was a really disappointing day. We had a really quick turnaround for this game, and we prioritised a few things in our performance.
“I thought the lads tried to give us that. I don’t think it was us at our very best, but it was enough to win, and we’re in a good position now in this competition.
“It’s a really good thing for us to have had a game this week off the back of West Ham. I think that was a real positive, and a chance to put that performance away and amend some things that we did wrong.
“I thought there were real positives tonight. Defensively, again, I thought we looked really good, and we scored two good goals.”
On Burn’s header: “It was very reminiscent of the cup final, wasn’t it? It was an incredible header from distance, and he’s arrowed it into the top corner.
“Yes, it was a training ground move. Well done to all the coaches involved in that.”
Opta facts: Toon equal their longest CL winning streak
Newcastle have equalled their longest winning streak in the Champions League, winning three matches in a row for just the second time.Newcastle have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three UEFA Champions League matches, which is as many as they had managed in their first 25 matches in the competition combined (3).Both of Dan Burn’s goals in the UEFA Champions League have been scored via headers (v Paris SG and Athletic Club) – he’s just the third Newcastle player to score multiple headers in the competition, along with Alan Shearer and Faustino Asprilla (2 each).Kieran Trippier’s assist was his 25th as a Newcastle player across all competitions. Since his debut for the club in January 2022, he’s one of only three defenders with 25+ assists for a Premier League club, along with Trent Alexander-Arnold (33 for Liverpool) and Andy Robertson (25 for Liverpool).
