Teenager Yamal is enjoying the best goalscoring season of his young career, with 19 goals in all competitions this term - including a stunning winner in Saturday's narrow victory at Athletic Club.

Left-back Hall, who has been in fine form himself this term, is likely to have the task of trying to keep Yamal quiet at St. James' Park in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday night.

But the prospect of facing one of the best players - and one of the top teams - in the world is an exciting one for 21-year-old Hall, a boyhood Newcastle United supporter.

"I think it goes without saying he's a special talent," said Hall. "I've seen him play in enough Champions League games, I know what he's about, so for me - if I was to be selected - I'd be really looking forward to it. I want to test myself against the best players in the world so there's no better opportunity to do so than the game tomorrow.

"My relationship with him is no different to any other player. I know the moments that he can produce, I know what he's like as a player, but I think they've got so many different threats in their team so to single one individual out, as good of a player as he is, would be not a smart thing to do.

"For us as the team we're just looking at their threats and how we can nullify them - and what we can do to win the game.

"We're really excited as a team - the Round of 16 is something that the club's not been in before and we know that it's a really important game for us as a club and for me as a fan. We're all really excited, and we're looking forward to hopefully putting a good performance in.

"We know the importance of tomorrow as a fixture in general. There's still enough games to go in the league that we can turn it around but we just need to put that to the side for now and focus on tomorrow's game, as that's the most important thing right now.

"It's going to be really difficult going to their place in a week or so, but for now there's such an important game tomorrow that we need to really just focus on what we can do tomorrow.

"When we do go there, we can hopefully take a positive result there. That's what we need to do."

Eddie Howe has labelled the clash with Barcelona as 'the biggest game in the club's recent history.' Asked if it's one of the biggest games of his career so far, Hall replied: "I'd say it's definitely up there.

"I've played a lot of games now that have been really important for my development as a player but when you get to this end in the competition, the business end of the competition, Round of 16 in the Champions League over two legs, I wouldn't say that I've played in any bigger games than that.

"So tomorrow's going to be a big one for me, but I'm looking forward to it.

"I like to take everything in my stride. I think that's an important thing for a young player to do. Anyone can get caught up in the moment, it can become a bit overwhelming so I think it's important that you just take everything as it goes along, take it game by game, and just think about how you can improve what you've done and what you can do for the next game. That's my mentality."

This time last year, Hall was coming to terms with a season-ending injury. He underwent surgery on his foot in March 2025. "That was a difficult moment," he added. "I wasn't expecting the results of my scans to come back as well they were and I missed the Carabao Cup final. which was gutting for me. It's something that I've learned a lot from mentally and I think it's made me mentally stronger.

"To be in the position now, Round of 16 in the Champions League tomorrow against Barcelona - I'm really looking forward to it and everything I've been through so far has put me in the position now."

The 2026 World Cup is around the corner, too. Hall has two caps for England so far, but has shown himself to be one of the best English players in his position over two seasons now. "It's definitely a motivating factor," admitted Hall. "I like to take every game by game; I'm still young, I'm still learning about how I can improve, how I can influence the team in better ways and things like that. It's a big opportunity tomorrow - Champions League, World Cup, they're obviously massive competitions.

"But I don't really think about that too much. I just think about what I can do to help the team in the next game and how we can do our best to win."