Welcome to the preview of Newcastle v Qarabag.
Tuesday, February 24, starting at 8 p.m.
Newcastle United attempted to reach the last sixteen of the Champions League for the second time in history on Tuesday evening.
The Toon have the luxury of a five-goal cushion after a thumping 6-1 win in the first leg and will be looking to impress before facing Chelsea or Barcelona in the next round.
They will face a Qarabag team who had the weekend off and will be hoping for another positive result against English opposition after drawing with Chelsea earlier this season.
Form
Newcastle have played nine Champions League matches so far this season. In the eight games in the Swiss League, United won four, drew two and lost two. Wins have been achieved over Union SG, Benfica, Bilbao and PSV, while draws have been achieved on our trips to Leverkusen and PSG. We lost at home to Barcelona and away to Marseille. In these matches we scored seventeen goals and conceded seven. With the fourteen points we achieved, we finished twelfth in the thirty-six team competition. We started the knockout rounds in style, beating Qarabag 6-1 away from home to take a healthy lead into this second leg.
Quarabag had to get through three two-legged play-offs to reach the group stage, beating Shelbourne 4–0, Shkendija 6–1 and Ferencvaros 5–4. In the group stage they won three, drew one and lost four of their eight matches. Wins were recorded against Benfica, Copenhagen and Frankfurt, while they held Chelsea to a 2-2 draw. They lost to Bilbao, Napoli, Ajax and Liverpool. They scored thirteen goals and conceded twenty-one. With the ten points achieved, they finished twenty-second in the competition. They will look to overturn a five-goal deficit to reach the last 16.
Last time out
De Toon traveled to Man City on Saturday evening for a Premier League match and is hopelessly unlucky that he does not come away with at least a point after a courageous performance. Man City took an early lead but Newcastle fought back when a corner was cleared into the path of Lewis Hall and found the bottom corner with a deflected effort from outside the box. Man City took the lead shortly afterwards, but the Toon thought they had equalized again when Dan Burn headed in an attacking free kick. Unfortunately, he was pushed into an offside position and the Toon was ridiculously punished with a disallowed goal. A second half of attacking pressure from NUFC failed to produce a deserved equalizer, but we left the Etihad with our heads held high and ambitions for revenge in the upcoming FA Cup match between the two sides.
Qarabag’s league match last weekend was postponed, meaning their last game was the 6-1 defeat at home to the Toon.
State attack!
-This will be only the second time the two clubs have met in their entire history.
-Qarabag previously played five league matches on English soil and lost them all.
-If he works full-time, Newcastle United will proudly have played one hundred and fifty competitive European matches.
Memorable match
The very first match between the two teams took place last week and was certainly memorable for all the right reasons. Newcastle opened the scoring after just a few minutes with a goal from Gordon and Thiaw doubled the lead before Qarabag could catch his breath. Three more goals for Gordon (two from the penalty spot) made it 5-0 before half-time, with only a few incredible saves from the Qarabag keeper preventing double figures. The second half was a more subdued affair and Qarabag had his moment of glory when he pulled one back. There was still time for Murphy to score a fine finish and seal an emphatic away win. Qarabag 1-6 Newcastle.
Played for both
Unfortunately, no one has had the honor of representing both teams yet. Instead, let’s take a look at some of our players who have created fantastic European memories at St James’ Park over the years:
David Ginola was one of the most exciting players to ever don the famous black and white. This was epitomized in a UEFA Cup second round draw at home to Ferencvaros in 96/97. When a corner was pinged to him outside the area there seemed little danger, what was to follow was completely outrageous! Wor Daveed controlled the ball on his knee, flicked it up with his right boot and then pulled an unstoppable effort with his left past a completely stranded keeper. This was one of NUFC’s all-time European goals and is still talked about almost thirty years later.
Tino Asprilla was something of a European specialist during his time at NUFC, scoring nine goals in UEFA competitions. Two memories in particular stand out. Firstly, who could forget his bizarre celebration against Metz in the 96/97 UEFA Cup, waving his shirt on the corner flag and earning a booking and suspension for the next match. Even better was to follow the next season. Tino famously tore Barcelona apart with an incredible hat-trick against the Catalan giants in one of the greatest nights in our modern history.
Alan Scheerder last time NUFC reached the last 16 of the Champions League under the guidance of the one and only Sir Bobby Robson. Not content with firing a winning penalty against Dynamo Kiev, he also scored a first-half hat-trick in a 3–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. When we led 1-0 and then 2-1 at Inter Milan, the dream of a place in the quarter-finals was realized, until the Toon were cruelly robbed of a victory they truly deserved.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 2-1 defeat away at Man City:
“Physically a good performance. They have been tough games. I want the players to be empty and give everything in their search for victory. I thought we played with a good plan. The two goals we did not defend well enough, two mistakes. But I am happy with the effort. The ranking is not what we wanted. Part of it is not based on tonight. We are going in the right direction. That is the most important thing because it means that in the long term we will do the same.” fine. We try to win every match, we don’t want to think too much about the matches. The feeling is strong, the solidarity is strong, you can see that in the second half. Overall the players are all out there and doing the best for this football club.”
Gurban Gurbanov after a 6-1 defeat at home to NUFC:
“Unfortunately, we lost with such a score. We did not want to lose with such a score. My players could not recover after the first goals conceded. The opponent is a very fast-playing team. Their preparation was also at a high level. We would like to thank our fans for being with our team until the end. The great thing was that the Champions League matches were held in Azerbaijan until February.”
Good cause
The Newcastle United Fan Food Bank will once again be raising money across the Gallowgate, gratefully receiving food, cash and toiletries for those in need. Of particular importance are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, liquor, long-life milk, etc.) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give what you can, any donation is greatly appreciated.
For more information and/or to donate online, visit Newcastle Food Bank
Prediction
Eddie Howe has the opportunity to rest some key players during a completely hectic fixture schedule and I think he will. Despite this, NUFC absolutely destroyed their opponents last week and I’m looking forward to another win in this one. Newcastle have goals in store and fans will expect a repeat of last week in another great win for the Toon. Newcastle 3-1 Qarabag (9-2 on aggregate)
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