From hope to humiliation, so what now for Newcastle?

A crestfallen Jacob Ramsey did not even bother getting to his feet at the Nou Camp.

Newcastle United were 6-2 down against Barcelona when the midfielder slipped and inadvertently set Raphinha up with a risky first-time ball right across his own box.

Ramsey knew what was about to happen and, sure enough, Raphinha coolly took a touch and fired the ball past a helpless Aaron Ramsdale.

A crushed Ramsey bowed his head.

If ever an image summed up a bruising night of self-inflicted pain for Eddie Howe’s side as they crashed out of the Champions League.

“Even changing to play lower and deeper and compact space didn’t really help us in our efforts,” the Newcastle head coach sighed.

Newcastle had more than competed with Barcelona in 135 of the 180 minutes of this two-legged last-16 tie.

The visitors showed immense spirit to twice draw level in the first half of Wednesday’s return fixture at the Nou Camp.

They were still very much in it at the break despite Lamine Yamal scoring a penalty to put Barca 3-2 up before half-time.

But then they lost their heads.

Few players score two equalisers at the Nou Camp yet end up on the receiving end of a 7-2 battering like a stunned Anthony Elanga did.

Yet it was telling that those in the away end applauded their side off at full-time and repeatedly vowed to “support you ever more”.

The travelling support had certainly not forgotten that Newcastle had reached the last 16 of the competition for only the second time in the club’s history.

Or that the visitors lost just three of their dozen Champions League fixtures this season.

Or that they put in valiant displays in 1-1 draws against Barcelona and holders Paris St-Germain.

“This is where we want to be,” said Howe. “As much as today is a harsh scoreline on us and a painful experience, to see the players play in the way they did in the first half and execute 90% of what we wanted, it was a great feeling and a great sight.

“I don’t think that all should be forgotten with the scoreline, as difficult as that is for everyone to see.”

However, this sobering trip to the Nou Camp felt another timely reminder of the gap Newcastle have to bridge.

It is challenging enough for them to regularly qualify for the Champions League year in, year out.

It will be harder still to compete for such heavyweight honours as CEO David Hopkinson has set out to do as soon as 2030.

Howe spoke afterwards “about learning from today and evolving and changing if we need to”.

Those words did not just feel like a reference to the games to come.

You anticipate this side will look a little different when Newcastle next play in Europe, and that is before taking departures into account.

It was rather telling that Howe was fielding questions about the future of Sandro Tonali on the eve of one of the biggest games in the club’s recent history following yet another batch of comments from the midfielder’s agent, Giuseppe Riso, at the weekend.

Qualifying for the Champions League did not exactly help the club’s cause when it came to keeping hold of Alexander Isak.

The race is technically not over yet.

Howe’s team are seven points off champions Liverpool in fifth place with eight games to go.

They will soon have the luxury of extra recovery time and added training time as a relentless schedule finally starts to ease after fighting on multiple fronts for so long.

Such intense exposure to Howe and his staff was crucial to Newcastle’s most successful league campaigns when they qualified for the Champions League in 2025 and 2023.

But this has been a season characterised by crippling inconsistency, and Newcastle are ninth in the table for a reason.

While a late tilt at the top five may feel like a long shot, Newcastle still have to find a way to build on recent league wins against Chelsea and Manchester United, qualify for Europe and end the season with momentum.

They simply can’t afford to let their domestic season fizzle out, not when there is a Tyne-Wear derby to come at St James’ Park.

There are not just bragging rights at stake on Sunday.

Newcastle are not just seeking revenge for a damaging 1-0 reverse at the Stadium of Light back in December.

They need to finish the campaign strongly.