GK Pope throws unlikely assist in Newcastle win

A piece of quick thinking from Nick Pope gave the Newcastle United goalkeeper an unusual assist from a throw that was launched past the halfway line in the Champions League on Tuesday.

In the 70th minute of the 3-0 win over Benfica, the England international had possession of the ball after collecting a cross when he saw Newcastle substitute Harvey Barnes in space near the halfway line.

Pope ran to the edge of his area and lobbed the ball overarm into Benfica's half, right into the path of Barnes. Benfica defender António Silva came across to cover but was unable to cut out the goalkeeper's ambitious pass.

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Barnes ran through and placed a low shot into the corner to make it 2-0 to Newcastle in the 70th minute -- but most of the celebrations were reserved for Pope, with the goalkeeper getting mobbed by teammates in his area.

"I'm not sure I can take too much credit for that," Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said, with a smile. "We are working on certain things with Nick on his distribution -- throwing is a big strength of his, actually, we've been working on that -- but I wouldn't say that's necessarily what we've worked on.

"Of course distribution is so important in the modern game."

Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for Newcastle against their Portuguese opponents coached by Jose Mourinho. Barnes then netted his second to wrap up the win at St. James' Park.

Victory comes on the back of a frustrating defeat to Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday, and with a home clash with Fulham this weekend being quickly followed by a Carabao Cup tie with Tottenham and a trip to West Ham, Howe hopes his team can carry over their European form.

"It wasn't an easy game that's for sure," he said. "They've got a manager who's been there and done everything in the game.

"We knew today was a difficult game and especially off the back of Saturday's result for us that ramped the pressure on. We had to handle that.

"That's why the win and the way that we won was really pleasing and hopefully we can take that into our next few games because we're going to need to back it up.

"One game in isolation in the Champions League means nothing. Now it's all about the next few games."

Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this report.