Newcastle United 3-2 Qarabag result (9-3 agg): Eddie Howe’s team breeze into UEFA Champions League round of 16

Newcastle United completed the job against Qarabag at St James' Park to reach the UEFA Champions League round of 16, winning 3-2 on the night to wrap up a comfortable 9-3 aggregate victory.

Building on their Baku exploits, Newcastle exploded out of the blocks to blow Qarabag away at the start of the second leg, with Sandro Tonali latching onto a second ball in the box and opening the scoring after just four minutes to remove any hint of a comeback chance for the visitors from Azerbaijan.

Joelinton volleyed home to make it 2-0 just 80 seconds later, finishing expertly after Qarabag were caught in possession in their own half.

But, with the tie well and truly wrapped up, Newcastle’s intensity dipped and Qarabag kept on plugging away on the last night of their Champions League run. And the visitors got the goal that their traveling fans wanted when the impressive Camilo Duran held off Dan Burn on the break and finished at the near post early in the second half.

The Magpies responded immediately with what proved to be the winning goal on the night as Sven Botman thumped in a header from a corner.

Yet Qarabag’s heads refused to drop and they added another with 57 minutes on the clock. After Dan Burn was penalised for a handball in the box, Aaron Ramsdale saved the penalty only for Elvin Cafarquliyev to react quickest and turn home the rebound.

The game remained alive until the final whistle, with Newcastle winning 3-2 on the night, but the work had largely been done earlier in the tie, and they can now turn their attention toward the next round, where they will face either Premier League rivals Chelsea or Barcelona, whom they met early in the league phase.  

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That includes a big game for Newcastle United next week when they welcome Manchester United to St James’ Park in the Premier League, with kick-off scheduled for 20:15 on Wednesday 4 March.

So Newcastle are into the true knockout stage and will face either Chelsea or Barcelona over two legs in the round of 16.

To learn more about how the draw for that stage works, check out our explainer article:

You can watch all of the rest of the week’s European action live on TNT Sports, with plenty at stake in the final four games of this Champions League play-off round, before the Europa League and Conference League play-offs conclude.

Newcastle’s remarkable first-leg performance in Baku meant that they were effectively through in this tie before kick-off tonight, but that was a certainty after just six minutes of play as they blew Qarabag away with early goals from Sandro Tonali and Joelinton. The match ended up being a competitive one on the night (on the scoreboard at least), but any higher stakes were snuffed out by Newcastle’s barnstorming start to the night.

Qurbanly breaks into the Newcastle half and shoots from range, with his effort taking a deflection and sliding narrowly past the post with Ramsdale scrambling to get there. They’ve ended their Champions League campaign with some pride tonight, have Qarabag. Credit to them.

Young Leo Shahar replaces Murphy for the final few minutes of the game. It’s a big moment for the 18-year-old, making his Newcastle debut in the Champions League.

Qarabag continue to push forward, but Gurbanli’s desire to score himself sees him cut inside and shoot from distance straight into the arms of the keeper, when a reverse pass to an unmarked teammate was clearly the better option.

The Newcastle fans have been treated to an interesting and well-matched game here, but it’s a difficult scenario to get pumped up for, and the lacklustre showing of Newcastle since the tie was made safe has ensured that the atmosphere is sluggish. Happy, but sluggish.

Bicalho goes in a bit late on Tonali and the midfielder stays down. It’s a painful graze down the shin with some studs, not enough impact for a red card, but enough contact for it to be uncomfortable. It’s a yellow for the Qarabag man.

Gordon does superbly down the left and works it in towards Woltemade, whose shot is blocked and deflects up onto a defender’s arm. VAR checks it, but there’s no penalty there and that’s fair enough.

Wissa, who hasn’t been at his best since joining Newcastle in the summer, comes on to the field to replace Osula. This feels like the sort of game where Wissa’s pace and directness should be a big threat. He needs a confidence-booster you feel.

Kushchuk comes on for the Duran, who is applauded off the field after his lively display, which he capped with that well-taken goal.

We’ll have a stoppage here as Duran goes down in pain with what looks like a non-contact knee injury. Here’s hoping it’s nothing serious for the Qarabag player, because he’s really got something about him, but he's got to go off.

Newcastle fail to take advantage of a numerical mismatch on the break, but the move stays alive and Barnes bends in a left-footed effort from outside the box that is tipped around the post. The referee spots a foul from the resulting set-piece and Qarabag can clear their lines.

Newcastle are in complete control of this tie that it’s understandable that intensity is dropping slightly, but Qarabag are a Champions League team and are particularly dangerous when they have the opportunity to play against opponents who aren’t operating at top intensity. It’s making for a very open and unusual game – entertaining in its own right but with nothing really at stake on the night.

What on earth are Newcastle doing?! A loose pass in the Qarabag half starts a counter-attack and the home side are so over-committed that it’s a three on one. They don’t quite take advantage at first, but Qarabag keep move alive and there’s a bit of a confrontation off the ball after Tonali bodychecks his man over. It’s not a penalty, but it was also totally enough to push the Qarabag player over, and getting into an altercation is needless from Tonali, especially as play is still going on. He’s almost punished too, as Duran pings in a shot that Ramsdale saves well at his near post.

Ramsey makes a strong stop from the spot-kick, but Cafarquliyev is the quickest to react and turns the rebound on target, with the keeper not quite able to keep out the second effort as he bounces back to his feet. What an odd game, but as a one-off contest this is a game now!

Dan Burn slides in to try and block a low cross, but the ball is cut back further than expected and it crashes into his arm, which is well out-stretched as the defender slides along the turf. It’s a penalty to the visitors.