Newcastle manager believes he can achieve the finest achievement of his managerial career to date in Catalonia
Eddie Howe has insisted Newcastle will not be intimidated by the scale of the challenge awaiting them at Camp Nou when they face Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 match.
After last week’s narrow first leg at St James’ Park where a late penalty from Lamine Yamal denied Newcastle victory at the death, the Premier League side travel to Spain with belief that they can they can go through.
“You can’t shrink at the size of the game, and I don’t think we will,” Howe said. “We have got many players who have played in so many games now; we have become accustomed to it.”
The Newcastle manager believes his side are hitting form at the right moment, describing their current performance as one of their strongest this season. Newcastle beat Chelsea at the weekend in a result that rekindled their hopes of qualifying for European football next season.
Howe admitted a potential victory in Catalonia would rank as the finest of his managerial career to date, but is unwilling to get too far ahead of himself.
“We have to make sure our game plan, tactical delivery and individual performances are at the right level,” Howe said. “We have another massive, massive game at the weekend [against Sunderland], so I don’t want to heap too much pressure on the players. I just want them to try to execute the best performance they can.
“We have many, many internationals in the squad so I don’t see [shrinking] as an issue. We have enough players who can cause them problems. We’ll enjoy the game, but we’ll only truly enjoy it if we deliver. I think we’re in a good place to do that, and the players are probably as confident as they’ve been in any stage this season.
“Our recent performances have been really strong. The individuals are performing at a really high level – that hasn’t always been the case. We need everything to go our way tomorrow. We know how good Barcelona are, but we believe in ourselves.
“We will try to be ourselves. We need a bit of everything. A defensive mentality [like] against Chelsea: blocking shots, defending in numbers. But also a bit of what we do best: our running capacity, our athleticism. There has been a really good battle between their midfield and ours in both games. We are going to need to be very good in our duels. The battle in midfield will go a long way to deciding the game.”
