MARCUS RASHFORD shut up a hell of a lot of people here tonight.
The England forward silenced 50,000 hyped-up Geordies, hushed a succession of Manchester United managers and quietened plenty more doubters with a quick-fire double to ignite his Barcelona career.
In front of Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel, Rashford was the party-wrecker with the pin-point finishes who pricked a vast bubble of noise at St James’ Park.
The Toon Army arrived here for an A-list fixture to celebrate the return of Champions League football to Tyneside, hoping to see their shiny new centre-forward Nick Woltemade tear into European royalty.
But the £69million German stayed on the bench for the opening hour until Rashford had netted his first goal for Barca with a smart header.
The United loanee, bombed out and insulted by the hapless Ruben Amorim last season, then hammered home a second with a deflected shot which cannoned in off the underside of the bar.
After days of nostalgic bliss reminiscing Faustino Asprilla’s 1997 hat-trick against Barca, the locals did not expect to be witnessing the Rashford show.
But the Mancunian was excellent here, even before his decisive one-two, looking every inch a Barca player and leaving Amorim, as well as his predecessor Erik ten Hag, with egg on their faces.
Anthony Gordon netted his first goal in 20 appearances to give Newcastle hope heading in to seven minutes of injury-time but Barca held out.
It was a night which had promised Newcastle the chance to finally put the Alexander Isak saga behind them, a reminder that they had managed to stumble over the line into the European elite last season.
Barca hadn’t played a Champions League match on English soil since their shock semi-final capitulation at Liverpool back in 2019 and there could barely have been more glamorous opposition for Toon’s opening night in the group stage.
There was a half-and-half scarf draped across the statue of Bobby Robson – who managed both clubs – outside St James’ Park, which is perhaps the only acceptable use for such an item.
And Wor Tino was here to bask in his former glories.
Not even that mighty feat was enough to inspire Newcastle into the knock-out stage of this competition.
That is a new frontier Howe is desperate to reach this term – and in this mammoth group stage, an opening defeat is far from terminal.
There was no start for Saturday’s debut hero Woltemade, who headed the only goal against Wolves as the Magpies earned their first win of the season.
Instead, Anthony Gordon was employed as the false nine but presented with an excellent early chance, the Scouser took an air-shot at a low centre from Anthony Elanga.
Barca, without their injured star boy Lamine Yamal, were decked out in hi-vis orange like a battalion of stewards hell-bent on crowd control.
They had little hope against this lot, however, the Toon Army were staging a full-scale assault on Catalan eardrums, reminiscent of the night Paris St Germain were hammered here two years ago, before Howe’s side eventually finished bottom of that ‘Group of Death’.
Rashford, who’d impressed for the first time in a Barca shirt during Sunday’s 6-0 thrashing of Valencia, was soon kippering his old England team-mate Kieran Trippier with a smart turn and bearing down on goal.
But after a cute step-over, the Manchester United loanee dragged his shot wide of the near post.
Hansi Flick’s side were beginning to settle but were still susceptible to a rapid Newcastle break when Bruno Guimaraes sent Elanga darting down the right and crossing low for Harvey Barnes, whose shot was met with a scrambling shot from Joan Garcia.
Barca were achieving a certain level of noise abatement, controlling possession and taking the sting out of the atmosphere.
Rashford, after a rough start with La Liga’s champions, seemed to have his strut back.
Before the break, Dan Burn was booked for a needless and nasty challenge on Jules Kounde.
Barca had enjoyed two-thirds of the ball and out-shot their hosts 9-3 in their first period but Newcastle were hanging on in there.
Rashford was soon poleaxing Fabian Schar, who’d blocked a fierce shot with his noggin – and was somehow allowed to stay on. Concussion protocols were obviously a passing fad in football.
Joelinton glanced a header wide from a corner and Sandro Tonali stung Garcia’s palms from distance but it felt as if Newcastle were lacking an authentic centre-forward.
And on 58 minutes, Rashford’s moment arrived, using outstanding technique to head a sweet cross from Jules Kounde into the far corner.
Schar, probably seeing stars, failed to pick up the scorer – and was promptly subbed off, the stable door swinging shut with the horse in the distance.
The Swiss was replaced by Malick Thiaw, as Woltemade also arrived in place of Barnes.
Suddenly all you could hear were the Barca fans up in the low-hanging clouds in the Leazes End.
And minutes later, they were in ecstasy as Rashford struck again.
The England man teased Tonali, beating him twice, then unloading a fierce shot which took a deflection off Burn and clattered the underside of the bar on its way in.
Gordon popped up at the back post to stab home a Jacob Murphy centre and set up a tense finale.
By then, Rashford had made way for Ferran Torres, met with a grateful handshake from Flick.
While Manchester United’s players watched on from their sofas, starved of any European football, one of their own was illuminating the elite.
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