I will leave if this continues Eddie Howe revealed Newcastle United dressing room saga after Barcelona champions league humiliation

After that performance in the first leg at St James Park, the talk coming into the second leg was that Newcastle United were more than capable of pulling off something special in the Camp Nou.

At half time, despite some comedic defending in which goals from Raphinha and Benal had been cancelled out by an unlikely double from Anthony Elanga, and even after Lamine Yamal’s injury time penalty had restored the Catalans lead at 3-2, that still seemed possible.

But the warning signs were there and by after the hour mark, Barcelona had doubled their goals tally during a devastating ten-minute spell in which Fermin Lopez and a brace from Robert Lewandowski had extinguished any lingering hopes United had of progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals.

To top off a thoroughly miserable evening, Raphinha scored his second in the 72nd minute as Barcelona cruised past a by then heavily jaded United by seven goals to two.

The first half was pulsating. It all started when Yamal turned Malick Thiaw, and after an uncharacteristic slip by Lewis Hall, Raphinha collected the ball from Lopez to put Barcelona ahead. Newcastle’s response was swift, Jacob Ramsey finding Hall out on the left and after a quick exchange of passes with Harvey Barnes, Hall’s cross was met by Anthony Elanga, his sharp finish levelling the tie.

Barcelona took less than two minutes to restore their lead, Raphinha’s free-kick met by Martin as United’s defence switched off, his header into the ground allowed Bernal to convert from five yards out.

Ten minutes later and United were level again, this time Hall intercepted a back heel from Yamal and moved the ball to Barnes whose cross was met by Elanga with another tidy finish at the back post to make it 2-2.

At this stage, it’s fair to suggest that Barcelona were on the ropes. Elanga had a penalty appeal turned down, it would have been soft had it been given and it wasn’t anywhere near as stonewall as the one that was awarded, Kieran Trippier pulling back Raphinha and VAR doing the rest. Yamal converted the spot-kick in the in the seventh minute of added on time and whilst that didn’t feel like a hammer blow, within a quarter of an hour of the restart, the tie was over.

First, Raphinha’s clever turn and first-time pass allowed Lopez to bear down on Ramsdale to make it 4-2 in the 51st minute. Four minutes later, Lewandowski headed in Raphinha’s corner and it was Lewandowski again five minutes after that, Yamal accelerating away from Dan Burn to roll the ball into the path of the Polish forward who plundered his 109th Champions League goal.

Man of the Match Raphinha added the seventh on 72 minutes, by which time Tonali, Joelinton and Elanga had all been replaced, one assumes with Sunday’s derby in mind, although in the case of Tonali he might be doubtful after a challenge from Lopez forced him off.

Make no mistake, this was a chastening defeat and one which magnifies the gulf between the haves and the have nots at Europe’s top table.

In Newcastle United’s foray into the last sixteen of this competition, they met an opponent who had won fifteen of their sixteen encounters at this stage. Playing an average of one game every four days over an extended period also takes its toll and if highlighting these facts come across as an excuse for the capitulation, I believe they have a certain validity.

Whilst this is of course, a hugely disappointing way to exit Europe’s premier competition, let’s not forget what it takes to get to the last sixteen of the Champions League, and I’m not necessarily talking about wins in Belgium and Azerbaijan, or the handsome victories over Benfica, PSV and Bilbao at St James Park; by that I mean needing to finish in the top five of Europe’s toughest league, something Eddie Howe has accomplished twice in his short tenure at the club.

FC Barcelona are a class act and whilst they have their own defensive frailties, they also excel at the other end of the park, as they so aptly demonstrated this evening.

Newcastle United’s next Champions League adventure won’t be next season, of that we can be sure, but we still have eight games to go all out to secure Europa Conference League qualification, and if Eddie Howe can dust us down and pick us up, it might still be possible to salvage something from this roller coaster of a season.