Newcastle breeze into last 16 despite Qarabag fightback in second leg

[p]With the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/newcastle-utd/p6ahwuwJ/"]Magpies[/a] all but assured of a last-16 place before kick-off thanks to their 6-1 first-leg victory, boss Eddie Howe handed a first start to 21-year-old defender [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/murphy-alex/novTP9P0/"]Alex Murphy[/a] as he made seven changes from Saturday’s 2-1 Premier League defeat at Manchester City.[/p][p]Newcastle went 2-0 up inside eight minutes in Baku last Wednesday, and they were even faster out of the blocks here, as they struck twice with fewer than six minutes on the clock.[/p][embed guid="cdccc617-d1c1-4dbb-af51-f0bc87661492" url="https://x.com/NUFC/status/2026389232642650469" social-type="twitter" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tonali-sandro/fmQVO5TQ/"]Sandro Tonali[/a] opened the scoring when he steered home his first career UCL goal after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kochalski-mateusz/YJtp9IzL/"]Mateusz Kochalski[/a] brilliantly kept out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osula-will/jT765A5D/"]William Osula[/a]’s header, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/barnes-harvey/Wjj9WTTi/"]Harvey Barnes[/a] crossed for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/joelinton/EBZ36WE4/"]Joelinton[/a] to volley his sixth of the season into the roof of the net only 80 seconds later.[/b][/p][p]The lack of jeopardy made for a subdued atmosphere inside St James’ Park, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/qarabag-agdam/Qgd3eSin/"]Qarabag[/a] grew into the game, with first-leg goalscorer Elvin Cafarguliyev forcing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ramsdale-aaron/dnohA1sG/"]Aaron Ramsdale[/a] to save with his legs at the near post on the half-hour mark.[/p][p]Newcastle have scored six unanswered goals between the 30th minute and half-time in the UCL this term, and they almost had another when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/murphy-jacob/b5WYEjtm/"]Jacob Murphy[/a] - hunting a goal to celebrate his 31st birthday - fired wide after latching onto [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/woltemade-nick/4YDUd1at/"]Nick Woltemade[/a]’s clever flick.[/p][p]Ramsdale was then called into action again when he tipped [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/duran-camilo/ABRdHg6i/"]Camilo Duran[/a]’s fierce strike over the crossbar.[/p][p][b]Ramsdale was unable to deny Duran six minutes after half-time, though, when Qarabag’s top UCL goalscorer (G5) outpaced [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/burn-dan/fyP3wtr0/"]Dan Burn[/a] and fired low inside the near post.[/b][/p][p][b]However, it took Newcastle only a minute to restore their two-goal lead as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/botman-sven/nRvavHmI/"]Sven Botman[/a] met [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/trippier-kieran/GMqWRFGS/"]Kieran Trippier[/a]’s outswinging corner with a powerful header to score his first-ever UCL goal.[/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="7e7a85b3-3ce9-4f07-9d2c-0e5a3d09ae5e" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="28d5f7b6-3d64-49fc-9a57-9e0955738bf0" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Qarabag will have feared the worst when they saw [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gordon-anthony/EFo95m2P/"]Anthony Gordon[/a], Newcastle’s four-goal hero from the first leg, come on as a substitute, [b]but the visitors soon found the net again when Burn handled inside the box, allowing Cafarguliyev to tuck home the rebound after Ramsdale saved [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jankovic-marko/nihR7rHT/"]Marko Jankovic[/a]’s penalty.[/b][/p][p]Both sides had chances to add further goals - which would have equalled the record total for a UCL knockout tie (13) - as Newcastle saw out their fourth successive home win in the competition, while matching their all-time highest overall tally of victories for a UCL season (6).[/p][image alt="Momentum" id="fce540a2-a391-4073-919a-8335a3ac8993" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="57f60aab-633e-4787-a447-caa1fba17deb" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p]The Magpies can look forward to a last-16 clash with Barcelona or Chelsea after winning a two-legged European knockout tie by 5+ goals for the first time since 2004/05, while Qarabag have now lost 10 of their 11 meetings with English sides (D1).[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tonali-sandro/fmQVO5TQ/"]Sandro Tonali[/a][/b] (Newcastle)[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/newcastle-p6ahwuwJ/qarabag-Qgd3eSin/summary/stats/?mid=4tWLB5j4"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore[/a].[/b][/p]