Barnes stars as Newcastle cruises past Benfica
Harvey Barnes scored two second-half goals to help Newcastle United earn a convincing 3-0 victory over Benfica in the Champions League.
Newcastle solidified its place in the league phase of the Champions League as it recorded a second successive win in the competition.
The host started brightly and nearly went ahead within the first 10 minutes, but goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin made a strong save to keep out Dan Burn's header.
Benfica then created a fine opportunity to break the deadlock as Dodi Lukebakio was found in space, but he slammed his effort straight at Nick Pope.
Burn played provider later in the first half as he teed up Bruno Guimaraes with a header from a corner, but the Brazilian midfielder was also denied by Trubin.
Newcastle eventually found the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark as Jacob Murphy scampered forward down the right and squared it for Anthony Gordon to score.
Pope became an unlikely creative source as his long throw set Harvey Barnes through, and the English attacker made no mistake as he netted Newcastle's second in the 70th minute.
There was time for another as Nick Woltemade and Gordon combined, before the latter picked out Barnes to net his second and Newcastle's third with seven minutes left.
