"Adios Europa" said the headline in the Barcelona sports daily yesterday morning and adios Europa was what both Barcelona and Newcastle United said to the Champions League last night.
That much was predictable, however, and the most notable feature of a strange evening was that it occurred in one of the most low-key anti-climactic atmospheres this vast monument to football passion can ever have hosted.
Barcelona's recent slump in their domestic form, allied to a disastrous Champions League campaign, meant that when Newcastle's noisy 6,000 fans arrived in the Nou Camp they were greeted by the dispiriting sight of about 80,000 empty plastic chairs.
With a gate of only 20,000, the Catalan public had voted with their feet and in such an environment Giovanni's splendid 17th minute winner was rendered tactically meaningless. With Newcastle never really in the game the same description is applicable to the contest overall.
Because of injuries and suspensions Newcastle had yet another rejigged, unfamiliar formation that saw Alessandro Pistone, a left wing-back, playing at right-back with Steve Watson in front of him in midfield. Beside Watson was the inexperienced Des Hamilton, in for Robert Lee, while Temur Ketsbaia was given a lone role up front.
All of which merely added to the surrealism of the occasion. The main cause of that was that this magnificent stadium looked barely one fifth full, then there was the unrelenting downpour, and then a 10-second "minute's silence" before the kick-off for Louis van Gaal's dead mother.
By the 12th minute when Albert Celades turned Pistone and shot from a pass from Dragan Ciric it was clear that the huge dimensions of the Nou Camp pitch would be responsible for even larger gaps than normal appearing between the Newcastle defenders, and indeed it soon became a theme of the evening.
Six minutes later Jose Guardiola found an enormous space between John Beresford and Philippe Albert and sent Giovanni racing into it. The Spanish international was in full stride but still had time to consider all the possibilities. He chose a sublime one, an exquisite chip which left Shaka Hislop looking like a lost schoolboy.
It was ominously easy in its creation and when, 10 minutes later, Ciric had room in the box it seemed a second was a mere formality. Ciric dallied, however, and Beresford slid in with a fierce saving tackle.
The only time that the flow of the game was reversed was when John Barnes had a speculative shot from 20 yards and, more promisingly, when Jon Dahl Tomasson's deflected drive spun over Ruud Hesp and clipped the Barcelona crossbar.
Ciric should have scored three minutes into the second half, Hislop diverting the ball away for a corner with his elbow, but, with half-time substitute Aaron Hughes disconcertingly composed for a man three weeks past his 18th birthday, the holes in the Newcastle back line were less frequent.
Barcelona were not exactly going for the jugular and it was not until the 71st minute when Beresford cleared an Abelardo header off the line that the home side threatened again.
Barcelona: Hesp, Ferrer, Abelardo, Guardiola (Amor 64), Couto, Anderson (Pizzi 55), Giovanni (Nadal 80), Rivaldo, Ciric, Celades, Reiziger. Subs not used: Busquets, Figo, Xavi, Mario. Goals: Giovanni 17.
Newcastle Utd: Hislop, Beresford, Peacock (Pearce 30), Albert (Hughes 45), Pistone, Batty, Barnes, Ketsbaia, Tomasson, Watson, Hamilton. Subs not used: Srnicek, Crawford, Pinas, Elliott. Att: 20,000
Referee: M Batta (France).
