Feb 22, 2026, 04:22 PM ET
Newcastle United host Qarabag FK at St. James Park on Tuesday evening, coming into this second leg of their UEFA Champions League Knockout stage playoff tie with a commanding 6-1 lead from their first leg in Azerbaijan.
How to watch
The match will be broadcast on Tuesday on TNT Sports and Amazon Prime in the UK, Paramount+ in the U.S., SonyLIV in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details
Kick-off time: Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 8.00 p.m. GMT (3 p.m. ET; 1.30 a.m. IST and 7.00 p.m. AEDT, Wednesday)
Venue: St. James Park, Newcastle
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
VAR: Daniele Chiffi (Italy)
Team news
Newcastle United
Emil Krafth, D: knee, OUT
Fabian Schär, D: ankle, OUT
Tino Livramento, D: hamstring, OUT
Bruno Guimarães, M: muscle, OUT
Lewis Miley, M: knee, OUT
Yoane Wissa, F: knock, OUT
Sven Botman, D: back, DOUBT
Qarabag
Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev, GK: DOUBT
Talking Points
Anthony Gordon and his records
He may very well not start (or even feature) on Tuesday, but it’s worth looking back at his performance that has made this a virtual done deal in Baku. And what better way to do that than the stats that performance produced:
At 2 minutes, 2 seconds, Anthony Gordon’s goal is the fastest by Newcastle in UCL history, The previous fastest goal was two goals in the fifth minute, both in 2003 (Shola Ameobi and Alan Shearer).
Gordon’s 10 UCL goals this season are the second most by an Englishman in a UCL season
Gordon is the first Englishman to score a hat trick in the UCL KO Stage.
In 33 minutes, Anthony Gordon scored the fastest ever hat trick by an English player, and by a player for an English club.
Gordon was the third player to score a hat-trick on their first appearance in the UCL KO stages after Valencia‘s Gerard in April 2000 (vs Lazio) and Liverpool‘s Sadio Mané in February 2018 (vs Porto)
Gordon was the second player to score 4 goals in the first half of a UEFA Champions League game and the first to do it in the UCL KO Stage. Luiz Adriano did so in the 2014-15 Group Stage for Shakhtar Donetsk vs BATE Borisov.
Newcastle United can rotate without fear
Without being disrespectful to their opposition, the massive first leg lead allows Eddie Howe to make the best of use of whoever he has available in the squad, get some goalscoring form back into the boots of some of his attackers and gives him a chance to test out the best from the academy if he were of a mind to do that.
Give William Osula a start. Allow Joelinton to have a run around and get some fitness back into the legs. Rest the very overworked-looking Sandro Tonali. See if Anthony Elanga can really find his way to goal. Perhaps give young Sean Neave more than three minutes.
The Anthony Elanga question
Since his big money transfer from Nottingham Forest, with whom he was coming off a season with six goals and 12 assists, Anthony Elanga has flattered to deceive in Newcastle colours. In 37 matches this season across all competitions, Elanga has managed just two assists and one goal (and that came in the EFL Cup, a consolation vs Manchester City). What’s even more worrying is the hesitation and lack of directness Elanga is showing on the ball — a stark contrast to his Forest days.
Aleksander Isak’s departure has often been cited by Eddie Howe as a reason for his attack misfiring, and while understandable in the first half of the season it no longer is. Elanga is chief amongst the current crop of Newcastle United forwards who must step up their game.
How can Eddie Howe replace Bruno Guimarães in the short term?
Not one for this match, perhaps, but in trying out different combos on Tuesday, Howe may stumble upon the solution to this conundrum. Guimaraes is Newcastle’s everything — and a major reason for their success since joining the club, but no team can afford to be so dependent on one man and his performances.
Perhaps an impactful UCL KO stage performance could set the stage for someone to step into those shoes. Atleast in the short term.
The Qarabag story is not about the 6-1
For the Azerbaijan club, it’s the ‘we are here’ that matters much more than what happened in that brutal first leg defeat. They are just the second Azerbaijani club to reach the group stages of any UEFA competition (2014-15 Europa League), the first to reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League (2016-17), and now the first to advance to a Champions League knockout round.
Look at some of the names they finished above in the group stages — Napoli, Benfica, Marseille, PSV, Athletic Bilbao, Ajax, Villarreal — and you begin to grasp the significance of what they have achieved.