Newcastle nailed £100m transfer decision as Jose Mourinho accepts uncomfortable truth

There was a time when Jose Mourinho to Newcastle seemed to make too much sense. But that time is not 2025. While the “little Magpie” can claim honorary Geordie status through his association with Sir Bobby Robson, he would no longer be the settler in that relationship.

Newcastle have outgrown those perennial links with one of the managerial greats. Eddie Howe has personally navigated them with a trophy and enough influence at St James’ Park to essentially pick his successor as sporting director.

This was mere confirmation of what had already long since become apparent. Mourinho’s stock has fallen and the box-office returns are negligible; Newcastle are on the opposite trajectory, at least on the continent.

They have now scored more goals in three Champions League games this season than in eight matches in the Premier League. If residing between Brentford and Fulham in the table is a humbling experience, forming the filling in a Bayern Munich and Real Madrid sandwich must make things more palatable.

Benfica had been the better side – or at least posed the most threat – for the first half an hour. Dan Burn’s crushing weakness against Big Diags was thoroughly exposed to the delight of Dodi Lukebakio, but try as he might the former Watford forward could not make his opportunities count.

Lukebakio was a first-half menace, testing Pope and then the structural integrity of the post with a sublime curling effort as Newcastle started to lose control. After the break he was barely a footnote, summed up by the moment he was robbed of the ball by a rampaging Anthony Gordon while dawdling in the centre circle.

It was a magnificent 85 minutes of pure, uncut, unadulterated Gordon. He hared around throughout, scored and assisted, and likely made Mourinho regret he hadn’t come around a couple of decades earlier when the Portuguese had an unlimited budget and pull.

Squint hard enough and you can just about see Damien Duff in there somewhere.

No player on either side had more shots, nor was fouled more often. Only Enzo Barrenechea made more tackles but he was Benfica’s equivalent to an umbrella in a monsoon.

Nick Woltemade, Jacob Murphy and later Harvey Barnes formed a particularly strong support act.

The teething problems are obvious and natural but Newcastle’s new centre-forward is a wondrous contradiction of towering hold-up play, nimble flicks and a technique of geeing up the crowd which is somehow even more languid than his running style.

Murphy, back in the starting line-up again, restored balance. And Barnes displayed a level of confident finishing Newcastle must translate to their domestic form soon.

But Gordon was the star. It was his final touch to a sweeping move which granted Newcastle the lead, his energy which carried them, his dropping deep which Benfica struggled to cope with.

Seconds after prompting confusion on Tyneside as to whether Szymon Marciniak had awarded a penalty or a goal kick after Gordon went down under a Benfica challenge in the area, the forward had picked himself up to latch onto a majestic Woltemade touch before playing Barnes in to make it 3-0.

In this mood, Gordon is the quintessential essence of Howe’s Newcastle.

It was recently reported that there exists within the contract he signed almost exactly a year ago after his collapsed Liverpool move, a release clause ‘at a similar level’ to the £100m fine print which once lay dormant in Bruno Guimaraes’ deal. He is worth at least as much to this team.

And Mourinho, who was one of the first over to congratulate Gordon on his man-of-the-match display when the final whistle ended a miserable evening for Benfica, certainly knows it.