Newcastle vs. Barcelona: Head-to-head record and past meetings in Champions League

Champions League hostilities were renewed under the bright lights of St James' Park on Tuesday evening, when Newcastle United and Barcelona battled it out in the first leg of their last-16 showdown at the Magpies' home.

The knockout contest proved a tightly-fought encounter throughout, and Newcastle United appeared set to seal a dramatic late win as Harvey Barnes gave the Magpies the lead in the 86th-minute, only for Lamine Yamal's penalty in the 95th-minute meaning the two teams had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Sports Mole takes a closer look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between Newcastle and Man City.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 6

Newcastle United wins: 1

Draws: 1

Barcelona wins: 4

Newcastle United and Barcelona have faced each other just six times across all competitions, with each encounter taking place in the Champions League.

The very first meeting between the two teams took place at St James' Park in September 1997 and it was the Magpies, managed by Kenny Dalglish, who prevailed against Louis van Gaal's side via a memorable 3-2 scoreline, courtesy of a stunning hat-trick from Faustino Asprilla.

However, Barcelona got their revenge just over two months later, as Giovanni Silva was set up by a young Pep Guardiola to score the only goal in a narrow 1-0 victory at Camp Nou, the first of three wins the Catalan club have recorded against Newcastle.

Fast-forward five years and Barcelona would play host to Newcastle again, but this time in what was known as the second group stage. Van Gaal was in charge of the Catalans for a second spell and the Dutchman steered his side to a 3-1 home victory in December 2002, thanks to goals from Dani Garcia, Patrick Kluivert and Thiago Motta. Shola Ameobi, meanwhile, was on the scoresheet for the Magpies.

Three months later, Sir Bobby Robson's Newcastle were beaten again by Barcelona and conceded goals from both Kluivert and Motta in the second half to lose 2-0 at St James' Park, before going on to finish third in their group and crash out of the competition.

Over 20 years later and the two teams finally matched up once again, with Barcelona securing a 2-1 victory in the 2025/26 league phase of the Champions League thanks to a stunning brace from Marcus Rashford.

The two came together once again in March 2026 in the last 16 of the competition, with the two playing out a dramatic 1-1 draw in the first-leg at St James' Park as Yamal's 96th-minute penalty cancelled out Barnes' 86th-minute opener.