Eddie Howe confident Newcastle can compete with Champions League heavyweights

Eddie Howe is expecting Newcastle to make a splash in the knockout stage of the Champions League after reaching the last 16.

The Magpies completed a 9-3 aggregate play-off victory over Azerbaijan champions Qarabag with a 3-2 second leg win at St James’ Park to ensure six Premier League teams will be involved in the next stage.

And ahead of next month’s showdown with either Barcelona or Chelsea – the draw will be made on Friday – Howe is confident his side has what it takes to go even further.

He said: “We want to go as far as we can and why not? I think we’re good enough to do it.

“That’s the great thing now in our season. There’s a positive feel that whoever we get in the next round, it will be an amazing tie for us.

“I believe that we can raise our game and compete with anybody. That’s what we’re going to have to do whoever we get, but I just think it’s a massive thing for us to give our season an extra boost to get through this knockout phase and then into the next one.

“That’s the mindset we have to have. We have to believe in ourselves. I think we’ve seen the best of ourselves this year when we’ve gone into cup games and one-off games where we’ve been able to really rise to whatever challenge we’ve had in front of us.”

It is the first time the Magpies have reached the business end of the competition in their four attempts and represents significant progress on the European front during a campaign which has not always gone as they might have hoped domestically.

If their progression was a foregone conclusion before kick-off following their 6-1 rout in Baku last week, any hopes of a Qarabag fightback were put to bed within six minutes of kick-off when Sandro Tonali and then Joelinton struck in quick succession.

Camilo