With the Magpies all but assured of a last-16 place before kick-off thanks to their 6-1 first-leg victory, boss Eddie Howe handed a first start to 21-year-old defender Alex Murphy as he made seven changes from Saturday’s 2-1 Premier League defeat at Manchester City.
Newcastle went 2-0 up inside eight minutes in Baku last Wednesday, and they were even faster out of the blocks here, as they struck twice with fewer than six minutes on the clock.
Sandro Tonali opened the scoring when he steered home his first career UCL goal after Mateusz Kochalski brilliantly kept out William Osula’s header, before Harvey Barnes crossed for Joelinton to volley his sixth of the season into the roof of the net only 80 seconds later.
The lack of jeopardy made for a subdued atmosphere inside St James’ Park, and Qarabag grew into the game, with first-leg goalscorer Elvin Cafarguliyev forcing Aaron Ramsdale to save with his legs at the near post on the half-hour mark.
Newcastle have scored six unanswered goals between the 30th minute and half-time in the UCL this term, and they almost had another when Jacob Murphy - hunting a goal to celebrate his 31st birthday - fired wide after latching onto Nick Woltemade’s clever flick.
Ramsdale was then called into action again when he tipped Camilo Duran’s fierce strike over the crossbar.
Ramsdale was unable to deny Duran six minutes after half-time, though, when Qarabag’s top UCL goalscorer (G5) outpaced Dan Burn and fired low inside the near post.
However, it took Newcastle only a minute to restore their two-goal lead as Sven Botman met Kieran Trippier’s outswinging corner with a powerful header to score his first-ever UCL goal.
Qarabag will have feared the worst when they saw Anthony Gordon, Newcastle’s four-goal hero from the first leg, come on as a substitute, but the visitors soon found the net again when Burn handled inside the box, allowing Cafarguliyev to tuck home the rebound after Ramsdale saved Marko Jankovic’s penalty.
Both sides had chances to add further goals - which would have equalled the record total for a UCL knockout tie (13) - as Newcastle saw out their fourth successive home win in the competition, while matching their all-time highest overall tally of victories for a UCL season (6).
The Magpies can look forward to a last-16 clash with Barcelona or Chelsea after winning a two-legged European knockout tie by 5+ goals for the first time since 2004/05, while Qarabag have now lost 10 of their 11 meetings with English sides (D1).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)