Newcastle United will aim to rebound from Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Brighton when they host Benfica in the Champions League at St James' Park on Tuesday evening. The match is set for an 8pm BST kick-off and will be broadcast on TNT Sports 2 and TNT Sports Ultimate, with live streaming available via Discovery+ for subscribers.
Eddie Howe's side have had mixed fortunes in Europe this season, having opened their campaign with a commanding 4-0 win away to Union Saint-Gilloise before suffering a 2-1 home loss to Barcelona. Their latest league defeat, their third of the campaign, prompted a strong reaction from Howe, who withdrew Anthony Elanga and Joelinton at half-time against Brighton.
Explaining the decision, Howe said: "We faded and the last half hour was hard to watch. I don't think we played well for half an hour of that first half. We made a bright start to the first half and looked in a good place initially, then we fell away from that. I wasn't happy with the first half, and I think it was a time to try and shake the team up, to try and get new energy onto the pitch."
Benfica, under manager Jose Mourinho, arrive in the North East sitting third in the Primeira Liga. The Portuguese side have won their last match, a 2-0 victory over Chaves in the cup, but have lost both of their Champions League fixtures so far, including a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea, Mourinho's former club.
Newcastle will be without Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall and Yoane Wissa, who has suffered a setback in his recovery from injury. Joelinton and Elanga could also be at risk of losing their places after being substituted on Saturday. Benfica, meanwhile, are set to be without winger Bruma, as well as Alexander Bah, Manu Silva and Gianluca Prestianni.
