Fabian Schar will miss Newcastle United’s next matches after sustaining a head injury during the Champions League defeat to Barcelona. The 33-year-old defender was struck in the head by a powerful shot from Marcus Rashford at St James’ Park.

Barcelona is among the favorites to win the trophy alongside Liverpool, PSG, Arsenal, and Bayern Munich, while Newcastle United is viewed as a dark horse that would be ecstatic with a trip to the quarterfinals.

Newcastle Predicted Lineup vs. Barcelona (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Schär, Burn, Livramento; Guimarães, Tonali, Joelinton; Murphy, Gordon, Barnes.

Faustino Asprilla returned to St. James’ Park, the stadium where he once stunned Barça with a Champions League hat-trick in 1997. This time he watched Barça defeat Newcastle 2-1 and, instead of celebrating with the home crowd, he found himself impressed by Hansi Flick’s team, especially Pedri González.

Barcelona, under Hansi Flick, arrive on Tyneside with injury issues of their own. Lamine Yamal misses out after a groin problem picked up with Spain, while Marc-André ter Stegen, Alejandro Balde and Gavi are also unavailable.

Barcelona's first stop on the long road to European glory takes them to Newcastle, where they will come up against a formidable opponent and equally formidable atmosphere at St James' Park without the talismanic Lamine Yamal.

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Pedri and Frenkie de Jong are rightfully earning massive praise for their performance last night in Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League, for the game would have