Newcastle ensured it was a miserable return to England for Jose Mourinho, but Anthony Elanga was denied a match made in heaven.
That is the verdict from talkSPORT’s Troy Deeney, who claimed the Magpies’ failure to get the best from their new winger is ‘really worrying’.
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On a night with highs and lows for the club’s wingers, Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for the Magpies in their 3-0 win over Benfica, before substitute Harvey Barnes bagged a double.
After naming an unchanged starting XI for three consecutive matches, Eddie Howe made three changes for the visit of Mourinho.
Elanga was one of those to drop out of the Toon team, having been hooked at half time during the 2-1 defeat at Brighton last weekend.
In his absence, the Swede watched fellow wingers Jacob Murphy and Gordon combine to break the deadlock against Benfica.
The latter then turned provider for Newcastle’s third, with goalscorer Barnes rewarding Howe’s faith to put him on in the second half over Elanga with a double from the bench.
Speaking on commentary duties at St James’ Park, Troy Deeney thought getting a run-out against the Portuguese side would have been a match made in heaven for Elanga.
“You talk about the people that haven’t been up to speed,” the former Watford captain began on talkSPORT.
“How they’ve not managed to get the best out of Elanga to me is really worrying. I’d have thought this was a match made in heaven.
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