Newcastle’s Dan Burn: I’ll spend summer dreaming of Real, Barca and derbies

Dan Burn will spend the summer dreaming of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sunderland after helping Newcastle cap a remarkable season.

Boyhood Newcastle fan Burn, who scored the opening goal in the club’s Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool at Wembley in March, has a second Champions League campaign in three years to look forward after Eddie Howe’s men secured a fifth-placed Premier League finish, if ultimately by the skin of their teeth.

The 33-year-old, who last week signed a one-year contract extension, also found the back of the net in a famous 4-1 win over Paris St Germain in October 2023 and is hungry for more.

Asked who his dream opponents would be this time around, Burn said: “I want to play against the best teams, so I’d love to play against Madrid, Barcelona. That’s why you want to play Champions League football – it’ll be exciting.

“It’ll be good to even see Sunderland getting back to the Premier League. It’s such a weird thing because I’m really excited about it.

“I shouldn’t be, but those were the games when I was a kid. The derby days were the first fixtures I’d look for when they came out, so I wouldn’t say that I’m happy for them coming up, but I am happy that we get the derbies back.”

Newcastle’s derby rivals secured their return to the top-flight by beating Sheffield United at Wembley in a dramatic finish to Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final.

Twenty-four hours later, there was a tense conclusion at St James’ Park too as the Magpies rather fluffed their lines on a day when victory would have secured their passage, and had to rely on helping hands from Manchester United and Chelsea to fend off Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest after a 1-0 defeat by Everton, courtesy of Charly Alcaraz’s