Jose Mourinho gives brutally honest St James' Park assessment after Newcastle United 3-0 win

Newcastle United made it back-to-back wins in the Champions League with a convincing 3-0 victory over Benfica at St James’ Park.

Anthony Gordon opened the scoring in the first half before substitute Harvey Barnes scored twice to complete an impressive win for Eddie Howe’s side.

It sees The Magpies bounce back from the 2-1 Premier League defeat while also building on their 4-0 win at Union Saint-Gilloise last time out in the competition.

The result sees Newcastle sit seventh in the Champions League group phase table with six points from three games. The top eight advance automatically to the last-16 of the competition while clubs ranked ninth to 24th after eight matches take part in a seeded play-off round.

Next up for Newcastle in the Champions League is Spanish side Atheltic Club at St James’ Park on November 5. They then face trips to Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen before hosting PSV Eindhoven in the new year and ending their group phase matches away to holders Paris Saint-Germain at the end of January.

As for Benfica, it’s now three defeats out of three in the competition, with Jose Mourinho losing each of his two games against Chelsea and now Newcastle since being appointed as manager.

Jose Mourinho gives brutally honest St James’ Park assessment after Benfica loss

Mourinho waxed lyrical about the St James’ Park atmosphere in his pre-match press conference but changed his tune ever so slightly following the defeat for his side.

“I think it was beautiful,” Mourinho said about the atmosphere. “But to be honest, I think in the first half it was a quiet St James', it was quiet.

“They [the crowd] felt that the game was not easy, and they felt that Benfica was much closer than Newcastle to score. They brought their enthusiasm in set-pieces, which is normal when you have a team of giants, you know that every set-piece, free-kick, corner, you know that is a dramatic moment for the opponent, and it was the only moment where they brought that enthusiasm and that pressure to the opponent.

“We felt very comfortable in the first half. In the second half, the second goal kills the game, and then after that, it was easy for Newcastle to play, easy for the fans to enjoy, but to be honest, the atmosphere was just nice, not difficult, and beautiful in the sense of fair play, no problems, good refereeing, no disciplinary problems.

“In that sense, I think it was a quiet St James'.”

Eddie Howe reacts to Newcastle United’s Champions League win

After being critical of his wide players following the defeat against Brighton, Howe was pleased to say Gordon contribute with a goal and an assist, Jacob Murphy grab an assist and Barnes score twice.

“Good performance,” Howe said. “Even first half really, I thought we created some good chances. Had to be patient for that first goal when it came up.

“I thought we scored three great goals, actually. But we looked a constant threat in the game.

“But we had some moments where we had to defend well and they were a threat from their set players as well.So, delighted with the win. It's a massive, massive result.”

On his wingers, Howe added: “I thought both are winners. The start of the game did really, really well.

“Great to see them [Murphy and Gordon] combine for the first goal. That's a really pleasing sight. But yeah, Anthony played very direct.

“I thought athletically he was excellent because he put a real big effort in both on and off the ball. So, yeah, good night there.”