Newcastle secured a third successive Champions League win as Dan Burn’s thunderous header inspired a cathartic 2-0 victory against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
Burn struck in eye-catching style in the first half at St James’ Park and Joelinton netted after the interval to wrap up Newcastle’s fifth successive home win in all competitions.
Newcastle’s dismal 3-1 defeat at lowly West Ham on Sunday left the Magpies languishing in 13th place in the Premier League and prompted a painful bout of soul-searching on Tyneside.
But although they have struggled domestically, Eddie Howe’s side have three wins from four games in the Champions League this season, with their only loss coming in the opening match against Barcelona.
Ahead of trips to Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen in their next two league phase fixtures, sixth-placed Newcastle are firmly in the hunt to secure the top-eight place that guarantees automatic qualification for the last 16.
Howe will hope Newcastle’s European success serves as a springboard for a winning run in the Premier League, starting at Brentford on Sunday.
Mired in mid-table in La Liga after losing to Basque rivals Real Sociedad last weekend, injury-hit Bilbao were toothless without brothers Inaki and Nico Williams.
Unai Gomez wasted an early chance to lift the visitors when he headed Alex Berenguer’s corner straight at Nick Pope and Newcastle made the most of that escape.
Newcastle’s lacklustre loss at West Ham had sparked accusations that Howe’s team are developing a habit of playing down to the level of their opponents.
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Burn makes his point
2023 ➡️ 2025
Big Dan Burn on the scoresheet again in the Champions League pic.twitter.com/QVCSXSK0BL
Burn added to that perception this week when he said “everybody knows we will turn up” against Bilbao.
The England centre-back was true to his word as he put Newcastle ahead in the 11th minute.
Kieran Trippier’s free-kick picked out Burn in space in the penalty area and he punished Bilbao’s slack marking with a superb header that curled into the far corner from 10 yards.
Even legendary Newcastle striker Alan Shearer, watching with a broad grin in the stands, would have been proud of such a sublime finish.
Bilbao briefly mounted a determined response to that blow and twice came close to drawing level as sloppy Newcastle conceded possession too easily.
Gomez raced clear of the flat-footed Newcastle defence and fired against the near post.
With Newcastle on the ropes, Adama Boiro lashed a ferocious strike off the woodwork from 18 yards.
Howe’s men squandered a chance to increase their lead when Nick Woltemade climbed highest for a header that whistled wide from Harvey Barnes’ cross.
Newcastle suffered a blow when England winger Anthony Gordon limped off with a recurrence of a hip injury late in the first half.
But they ignored that setback to double their advantage in the 49th minute.
Barnes cleverly worked space on the left side of the Bilbao area and lofted a cross into the six-yard box, where Joelinton thumped his header past Unai Simon for his first goal in nine games.
Nico Serrano’s stunning long-range drive nearly caught out Pope, but the Newcastle keeper recovered to preserve a comfortable clean-sheet.
