This best version of Newcastle United can bully, compete with, and scare Barcelona.

The other version lies 12th in the Premier League, was outplayed in the FA Cup three days ago by Manchester City, and may not be back mixing it with Europe’s elite next season.

What a frustrating, brilliant, annoying, can-do-it, almost-do-it kind of club they are right now.

The best of Newcastle United can largely outplay the Catalan giants, and take the lead thanks to Harvey Barnes with just four minutes remaining of the 90.

The worst of Newcastle United can then concede a penalty deep in injury time, allowing Lamine Yamal to level with the very last kick of the game.

So a last gasp swing, from a huge chance of pulling off a major Champions League shock in the Nou Camp next week, to probable outsiders. But with this lot, who knows?

“The tie is alive,” declared Eddie Howe, taking the positives.

In the 86th minute the spirit of 1997 came alive again at the Gallowgate End. Remember Tino Asprilla’s soaring headers from deep swinging crosses and wing play by Keith Gillespie, that gave Newcastle that famous 3-2 over Barcelona?

The 2026 version wasn’t quite as spectacular. But same end, same right wing cross, and a crucial goal – sub Jacob Murphy launching a ball in for Barnes to prod home.

Game won? Not quite. The visitors had only found momentum in the last 15 minutes, finding space on the break. So it was when Dani Olmo cut inside Malik Thiaw and drew a tap on the shin. No arguments, and Yamal converted.

Still this represented a performance of pride, if not the substance of a win, for Howe’s men. Howe could make a strong case for saying they deserved to take more than a draw to Spain.

Barcelona were rattled and they knew they had been in a game.

The ugly sight of Lewis Hall outskilling Yamal with a neat shimmy, causing the angry winger to flatten him with a barge – and somehow escaping a booking which would have ruled him out of the second leg – summed up the tussle.

There is conflict and contradiction between the direction Newcastle club chiefs have pointed the club in, and the actual direction of travel this season, which has at times been backward.

This display showed progress, and at the end frailty, but certainly no disgrace.

It was the perfect benchmark game to test chief executive David Hopkinson’s assertion that they want to be “debated about being the top club in the world by 2030.” A Champions League campaign in the company of a global giant. Shoulder to shoulder with the elite of the elite.

Consistency, and seeing out big opportunities like this, is needed before that mission is anywhere near accomplished.

No problem with a club leader showing ambition but it’s created an even heavier burden for Howe to carry.

Barca boss Hansi Flick said: “We did not make a good game. We lost too many balls and too many escapes. Newcastle are dynamic and fast and it was not easy. I would be happy 1-1 before the game. We have no excuses. We have to play better at home.”

Howe’s midfield worked, Jacob Ramsey was excellent, and bar Dan Burn almost poking into his own net, Barca hardly threatened.

It was tight, more so than the league game which the Catalans won 2-1, with reasons for second half hope. Hall was putting in a man of the match shift, reading the game, stealing possession and adding lung-busting runs up the wing. England’s World Cup left-back?

Barca had to wait 65 minutes for a real opening, Robert Lewandowski sliding in to touch Raphinha’s cross wide. Barnes hit the bar and Joelinton scrambled the ball into the net but an offside was given.

Then the chaotic finale.

“A very, very good performance and we limited them,” said Howe. “We attacked well, and had chances. The last kick of the game… that is a tough one to take. We have to believe we are in the tie. The draw was harsh on us.

“There was so much good from us today. We need that more consistently. Football never plays to romance.”

Perhaps ultimately this season will represent the end of the beginning in the rebuild of Newcastle United.

They’ve the ability, shown here, to mix it with the very best on a one off occasion. Flashes of brilliant, individual talents, coaching acumen, but the knowledge that an aging squad needs a revamp.

They’ll have to do better than the £250m splurge last summer although at least one of those recruits, Anthony Elanga, looks to be finding his sprinting legs.

This season there’s the gloss of this Champions League campaign – Barca, PSG, Marseille, PSV et al, that has earned £56m so far this season. But a nagging, harsh reality of not being back here next season, and all that potential Euro cash vanishing.

With a dip in performance, come the vultures. Already it’s being asked who will be picked off in the summer. Sandro Tonali? Anthony Gordon? Tino Livramento? Lewis Hall. All individuals who merit this stage, which Newcastle are unlikely to deliver for another 15 months at least.

And then there’s the future of Howe. Stick or twist? Every boss has a shelf-life, when methods and the same voice become stale. Has he been given enough ammo in the transfer market to evolve this side? Performances like this suggest allowing Howe a chance to reinvent would be the smart move.