Barcelona opened up their 2025-26 Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win at St James’ Park against Newcastle United.The opening 45 minutes were very much a half of two halves. Newcastle, in typical fashion, started aggressively, with the front three pressing the Barcelona defence and winning possession in some promising positions, to the delight of the home fans. The pace of Anthony Elanga, in particular, was a consistently dangerous outlet for Eddie Howe’s side, with their best chance of the half coming when he motored down the right flank and crossed for Harvey Barnes, whose shot was saved.But Barcelona are too good to be dominated for long and inevitably grew into the game. Marcus Rashford offered a growing threat and Pedri’s probing in the middle allowed the visitors to dominate first-half possession and generate three times as many shots as Newcastle, even if none of them tested Nick Pope.And it was the visitors who opened the scoring just before the hour, Rashford heading home from a Jules Kounde cross to become the first English player to score for Barcelona in a European competition since Gary Lineker. Ten minutes later, Rashford made it 2-0 with a rocket of a shot from just outside the penalty area. Anthony Gordon halved the deficit in the 90th minute, but despite some pressure in injury time, Newcastle could not complete a comeback.Chris Waugh and Anantaajith Raghuraman analyse the game.Does Marcus Rashford’s Barcelona loan spell have lift-off?It’s fair to say Rashford had a mixed experience in the first half. Ten minutes in, he collected a throw from Joan Garcia and sold Kieran Tripper a dummy before collecting the ball on the other side, bearing down on goal before… shooting well wide of Pope’s near-post.Rashford competed well with Trippier for much of the half but could not get away from him. He looked unsure of his responsibilities in possession at times. The Barcelona forward also gave the ball away to Livramento with a loose pass across the pitch in the 26th minute, but covered ground well to slide in and stop a Newcastle counter.But the moment he and Barcelona were waiting for arrived in the 58th minute, when smart movement to gain separation from Schar helped him finish Jules Kounde’s cross with a header into the bottom corner for his first goal in Barcelona colours.If that was a moment that showed his understanding of the game, Rashford’s second was vindication for one of the best strikers of a football in Europe. Picking up a weak pass from Dan Burn at the edge of the Newcastle box, Rashford took two touches towards the right side of the box before lashing a shot that dipped just enough to leave Pope helpless and cannon in off the bottom of the crossbar.That was followed by a sweeping first-time switch to Raphinha, who could immediately bear down on goal before shooting wide, and an excellent touch to control a Garcia long pass and then turn Trippier before charging into the box. Those were all signs of how good Rashford can be at full flight, especially with his confidence enhanced by two goals.His first four games in a Barcelona shirt have been middling, but his loan spell now has lift-off.Anantaajith RaghuramanWas it a mistake not to take Fabian Schar off sooner?If Newcastle harbour any regrets from the night, how Fabian Schar’s apparent concussion was handled will be one of them.In the 50th minute, Rashford lashed a vicious shot towards goal and Schar, whether deliberately or inadvertently, put his head in the way to block it. The power of the effort was such that it knocked Schar backwards on his feet.Newcastle’s medical team came onto the pitch and some immediate concussion tests appeared to take place, but Schar seemingly did not show immediate symptoms. At least it was not deemed sufficiently serious to immediately remove the centre-back.