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As Jose Mourinho came at Newcastle's stadium and complimented Newcastle's coach and his players, home supporters feared a difficult game. But those worries disappeared thanks to a strike from the winger and two more from substitute Harvey Barnes, making sure the visitors' new manager did not inflict pain for Howe's team.

Match Dynamics and Initial Exchanges

Mourinho had forecast that the home side would be very physical, but his Benfica players showed their own aggressive approach. Benfica clearly enjoyed breaking up Newcastle's early efforts to establish a fluent attacking rhythm.

Adding to Newcastle's challenges, key midfielders, Sandro Tonali and the Brazilian, began as substitutes as they continued recovering from illness and a knock respectively.

Before kick-off, the coaches exchanged a brief, cool greeting, and it quickly became clear that the Benfica coach had instructed his side to quiet the crowd by delaying Newcastle and lowering the intensity whenever possible.

Key Events and Turning Points

Benfica's tactic yielded mixed outcomes, but when Anthony Gordon and the Newcastle attack managed to dismantle Benfica's backline, they initially struggled to generate good opportunities.

Additionally, Benfica's Belgian attacker Dodi Lukebakio nearly showed how to finish when, after leaving the defender on the ground, he forced Nick Pope with a tremendous shot that got an terrific single-hand stop. It's no surprise Pope still hopes for an national team return in time for the World Cup.

But when Lukebakio directed another shot off the woodwork, the home side roused themselves. Murphy fired wide, and Anatoliy Trubin made an impressive close-range stop from Bruno Guimaraes before Anthony Gordon finally opened the scoreless tie.

Gordon's scorching speed had created problems for Mourinho all night, and he neatly side-footed the first goal past the goalkeeper after his teammate's quick cross into the area proved effective.

On the occasion the Magpies' intense, pressing game was not second-guessed by Benfica, Murphy, preferred over £55m Anthony Elanga, was there to pass a ground ball across the face of goal for the winger to finish.

Later Stages and Match-Winning Substitutions

From the beginning, Benfica could not be blamed of parking the bus and playing for a draw, but now their players attacked with total abandon. The winger consistently displayed an skill to unsettle Howe's back four, and the Magpies were probably relieved to regroup at the break.

The opening period concluded with the keeper once more rescuing his side by tipping Lukebakio's shot around the post, and as the teams came out for the next period, the match seemed finely poised.

If Anthony Gordon, evidently buoyed by netting his fourth strike in three European games this campaign, played with the zeal of a wide player aiming to alter the power balance in Newcastle's favor, the Benfica attacker had different plans.

The manager's winger had previously shown that, while Burn is a capable centre-back, he is not a born left-back, and Newcastle fans were in mouths every time he moved forward.

Howe might have relaxed had Lewis Miley, filling in for Tonali, not headed a set-piece over the bar from a good position. Rather, this absorbing game continued to swing from end to end, persuading Newcastle's manager to bring on the midfielder and Barnes in place of Jacob Ramsey and Jacob Murphy.

Mourinho, meanwhile, threw on an extra forward in Franjo Ivanovic. This would perhaps prove a risk that backfired.

Harvey Barnes Seals the Game

Before that, Benfica, and in particular their Portuguese defender Antonio Silva, had performed a fine job in limiting Woltemade's room and pushing the Germany centre-forward back. But now, with right-back Dedic off, the defense was weakened, and the way was clear for Harvey Barnes to show that Anthony Gordon is not the manager's only attacking winger.

Newcastle's two changes was already paying off by the time Pope dispatched a wonderful throw in the substitute's direction. When Silva, for once, misread the flight, Barnes was away, sprinting into the penalty box before keeping impressive poise to fire a superb strike past Trubin.

When Barnes slid a shot through unfortunate the goalkeeper's legs after meeting Gordon's stellar through ball, it was finished. Mourinho had warned that Newcastle have four quick wingers, and a trio of strikes from a pair of wide men had destroyed his hopes of earning the team's first Champions League points of the campaign.