‘Bring it on’ – Newcastle’s message to Chelsea and Barcelona

Newcastle are certainly enjoying life once again at the top of the table in Europe.

Howe’s side top the Champions League scoring charts with 26 goals, and have won six matches in a single season in the competition for the first time.

It’s been a huge turnaround in the last two and a half weeks.

Howe was the first to admit he was not doing his job “well enough” after his side were booed by a section of fans following a 3-2 defeat to Brentford in the Premier League in their previous match at St James’ Park earlier this month.

The Newcastle manager has begun to do some soul searching in the wake of the loss, while his players have begun to ‘fight for the manager’.

Newcastle have won four of their last five matches in all competitions since then, securing a place in the knockout stage.

Given the gap in revenue between the Premier League and a number of clubs on the continent, and the competitiveness of the Premier League, outsiders might wonder whether this should necessarily come as such a huge surprise.

Even beleaguered Tottenham Hotspur, hovering above the Premier League’s relegation zone, finished in the top eight in the league stage.

However, the manner of Newcastle’s six Champions League victories against Qarabag, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Athletic Club and Union St. Guilloise is far from settled.

For example, Qarabag drew against Chelsea and defeated Benfica, Eintracht, Frankfurt and Copenhagen. Newcastle crushed the Azerbaijani Premier League champion.

Although Howe wanted more from his much-changed side in the 3-2 win in the second leg on Tuesday night, Newcastle showed they are capable of taking on the continent’s elite on their day.

Newcastle tied 1-1 with defending champion Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital last month, and suffered a heavy defeat 2-1 at the hands of Barcelona in the opening match of the competition.

It’s no wonder then that defender Dan Byrne feels Newcastle can “compete with anyone” at their best.

“We showed it, especially against PSG, how good we can be,” he wrote in his program notes.

“I think we have upped our game heading into these games because there are bigger and better teams at this stage of the competition.”