Kieran Trippier is confident as Newcastle United prepare to face Barcelona in the Champions League. The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, with Harvey Barnes scoring for Newcastle and Lamine Yamal equalising for Barcelona with a late penalty.
Positive Mindset After Chelsea Win
Newcastle’s performance in the first leg, followed by a Premier League win at Chelsea, has boosted the team’s confidence. Eddie Howe goes into the game with a positive mindset. Trippier, who has experience playing in big games, having won La Liga with Atlético Madrid and played in a Champions League final with Tottenham, shared his thoughts.
“We feel really confident,” Trippier said. “We’ve had a mixed season; the Chelsea result was massive for us. Seeing players come back, seeing Bruno (Guimarães) come back, there’s a really good feeling around the place.”
Trippier added: “So we come here calm, relaxed, looking forward to the game tomorrow. It’s a big opportunity and we know the rewards that we can get if we put in a good performance.”
Experience in Barcelona
Trippier has played at Barcelona’s stadium three times with different clubs. “I’ve played here quite a lot of times; to be honest the players don’t really ask much about the stadium or whatever,” he said. “If you look in our dressing room, the players have played in massive games, massive occasions.”
He continued: “It’ll be great opportunity. The majority of the lads have never played in this stadium – I don’t know if it’s just myself – but a great occasion for the lads. We’re looking forward to training later and getting a feel for the place. It’ll be an exciting game tomorrow that we’re all looking forward to.”
Champions League Challenges
Trippier discussed the differences between the Champions League and the Premier League. “I’ve been lucky enough to play in La Liga but I think the Champions League’s totally different to the Premier League. Physically, it’s totally different.”
“The Champions League’s all about fine margins, especially at this stage of the tournament. It’s tactical, but Barcelona are a physical team as well – they’ve got some very physical players. Technically, it speaks for itself but we’ve got to think about our strengths, how we can hurt them.”
He concluded: “It’s going to be a good game, an entertaining game, two teams attacking to win the game to go through to the next round.”
Age Difference Not a Factor
When asked about the age difference between the Newcastle and Barcelona squads, Trippier, 35, joked about his age. “I’m not that old!,” he said.
Trippier stated: “We’ve got an experienced team, you look at Barcelona and they’ve got young, very talented players, but in the two games we’ve played against Barcelona I think we’ve shown we can go toe-to-toe with anybody, especially the game that we drew 1-1.”
He added: “I thought we played very well but of course coming here’s going to be different. But we have to have that same mindset, that same intensity to go at Barcelona, to attack Barcelona, to win the game.”
“I think the most important thing is, when you come to places like this, at stages in the Champions League you need to stay in the game.”
“You need to be calm because it’s going to be a good atmosphere. It always is, every time I’ve played here.