Newcastle United Archives

Newcastle complete cruise into Champions League last 16

Newcastle United completed their stroll into the Champions League last 16 with a 3-2 win over Qarabag on Tuesday to progress 9-3 on aggregate over the Azeri champions.

The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.

A tie that involved an over 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometre) round trip for both sides was killed off inside 45 minutes last week as Newcastle led 5-0 at half-time on their way to a 6-1 rout.

That allowed Eddie Howe to heavily rotate his side, with four-goal hero from the first leg, Anthony Gordon, among those left on the bench.

But he was still disappointed with how Newcastle handled the second half after another fast start as they added to their lead twice inside the opening six minutes of the match.

Sandro Tonali fired in the rebound after Dan Burn’s shot was saved, before Joelinton stroked in Harvey Barnes’ cross.

“I think if you look at the score over the two legs, it’s been fantastic from the players, even though today feels like a bit of a hollow win for us,” said Howe.

“I thought at 2-0 we probably came off the pedal. We didn’t intend to do that, but it was sort of the natural reaction.

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“In the second half, the game became end-to-end, which, for us, was a real shame. For one, we expended too much energy, and it meant we didn’t put pressure on their goal.”

Qarabag had taken the scalps of Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt in the league phase to make the play-off round, and at least salvaged some pride with two goals in the second period.

Camilo Duran outpaced Burn to pull a goal back before the Newcastle defender was penalised for handball inside the box.

Aaron Ramsdale saved Marko Jankovic’s penalty, but Elvin Jafarguliyev netted the rebound.

In between the visitors’ two goals, Sven Botman powered in a header from a corner.

That took the tally of goals conceded by Qarabag in the Champions League to 30 — a single-season record in the competition.

A much tougher test lies ahead of Newcastle next month when they will take on either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16.

READ: Bodo/Glimt sink Inter Milan to continue Champions League fairy tale

Manchester United, Newcastle United make bids for Benjamin Sesko: reports

Premier League sides Manchester United and Newcastle have both placed competing bids for in-demand RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, German tabloid Bild reported Tuesday.

The German tabloid said the Red Devils made an initial bid of 85 million euros (£73.9 million) on Tuesday for the 22-year-old centre forward.

Newcastle had offered a reported 80 million euros for the striker on Saturday, upping that to 85 million with bonuses on Monday.

The Slovenian striker scored 13 goals and laid on five assists in a disappointing league campaign for Leipzig last season. He has scored 16 times in 41 appearances at the international level.

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Sesko was stood down from Saturday’s home friendly against Serie A side Atalanta, which the visitors won 2-1, due to a potential transfer.

Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer confirmed this, stating that Sesko would not play “due to the very concrete interests from several clubs.”

Manchester United are rebuilding after their worst top-flight campaign in 51 years, along with defeat to Tottenham in the Europa League final.

United were toothless in attack and have already brought in forwards Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo in the summer window.

Sesko’s arrival could push under-pressure striker Rasmus Hojlund towards the exit, with reports emerging that United could sell the Denmark forward for 35 million euros, less than half of what they paid to bring him from Atalanta in 2023.

Newcastle qualified for the Champions League with a fifth-placed finish last season but are reportedly in danger of losing striker Alexander Isak to Premier League champions Liverpool.

READ: Porto football legend Jorge Costa dies aged 53

Newcastle fans rejoice at takeover talk but Saudi investment raises questions

London: Newcastle United fans have long dreamed of ridding the club of owner Mike Ashley, but a potential £300 million takeover backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund presents fans on Tyneside with a different dilemma.

Retail tycoon Ashley has been deeply unpopular in his 14 years in charge of Newcastle, during which time the club have twice been relegated from the Premier League before bouncing back into English football’s lucrative top flight.

The Magpies are again floundering near the bottom of the table, without a win in their opening seven league games of the season.

But an influx of Saudi cash could herald a new era for one of England’s most passionately supported clubs, who can boast attendances often above 50,000 despite decades of failure.

According to reports, 80 percent of the deal would be funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, with British financier Amanda Staveley’s firm providing 10 percent and the other 10 percent coming from British billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben.

Fans are keen for the $408-million deal — which collapsed at its first attempt last year — to go through but Amnesty International has warned it represents “sportswashing” of the Gulf kingdom’s human rights record.

Ashley blame

The Toon Army has long blamed Ashley for not investing enough to improve the team.

“There was a famous banner a couple of years ago that read: ‘We don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries.’ For the last 13 years we haven’t had a club that has tried,” a spokesman for the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) previously told AFP.

“Under this ownership there has been no ambition, effectively no investment and no hope for a sporting entity that hasn’t been a sporting entity. It’s been there to survive and nothing more.

The actions of Ashley have also done little to win over supporters.

He briefly handed his company, Sports Direct, naming rights to the club’s St James’ Park stadium in 2011, while there have been several disputes over ticket prices and refunds for matches played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The prospect of deep-pocketed owners at a time when many other clubs will be cutting back due to the economic crisis caused by Covid-19 is an alluring one for the fans.

A recent NUST poll found 94 percent of supporters were in favour of the takeover.

Manchester City’s run of 13 major trophies since an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 transformed their fortunes is an example of the difference that wealthy Middle Eastern owners can make.

Prior to 2011, City had not won a major honour since 1976. Newcastle’s barren run stretches back to 1969.

The controversial Newcastle takeover bid hit the rocks last year after an outcry from Qatar-based beIN Sports, a major television rights holder of the Premier League, which was banned by Saudi Arabia in 2017.

Tensions between the states have eased significantly and Saudi’s ban on beIN is set to be lifted, with Riyadh also seeking to settle Qatar’s $1 billion arbitration claim over pirate broadcasts to Saudi audiences by the BeoutQ network.

But there are already searching questions again being asked about the proposed deal, with Amnesty urging the Premier League to consider Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

The country faced international condemnation following the brutal murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate three years ago.

In February, US intelligence released a report that accused Prince Mohammed bin Salman of approving the murder. The Saudis strongly rejected that assessment.

“Ever since this deal was first talked about we said it represented a clear attempt by the Saudi authorities to sportswash their appalling human rights record with the glamour of top-flight football,” Amnesty UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said in a statement.

“Saudi ownership of St James’ Park was always as much about image management for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his government, as it was about football.”