Magpies vow to make Champions League return

NEWCASTLE UNITED bowed out of the Champions League vowing to be back next year after launching a major assault on the Premiership title.

Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat by Group A winners Barcelona at St James’ Park finally brought down the curtain on a thrilling and lucrative 14-game campaign which began in Sarajevo in August.

Bobby Robson’s young side has come on in leaps and bounds since taking its first steps in Europe’s biggest club competition, but the remarkable fightback which secured their passage to the second phase and then the brave battle they staged in an ultimately vain attempt to reach the last eight has give them a taste for more.

Striker Craig Bellamy, to whom United’s best chances fell last night, immediately turned his attention to the business of cementing another top-four finish in the Premiership: “We’ve got to make sure we’re back in the Champions League next season and keep building for the future because I think we’ve got a good chance of going on and doing something special in the next couple of years.

“We’re all developing and, as long as we’re back in the Champions League, it gives us the chance to buy more players, become bigger as a club and really hit the big time and have more nights like these.

England midfielder Kieron Dyer too is targeting a swift return, but insisted that there was still much to play for in the Premiership as United attempt to reel in Arsenal, whose Champions League involvement was also brought to an end in Valencia last night: “We can hold our heads up high. We’ve improved as a team and we’ve progressed from last season, which was the plan, and, next season, I’m confident we’ll be in the Champions League again and will get to the quarter-final stage.

“It’s a bad thing (for Newcastle’s title ambitions) Arsenal going out as it’s fewer games for them, but they’re all winnable games and if we play like that for the rest of the season, we won’t fear anyone.”

While some of the younger members of the squad were in bullish mood despite their disappointment, skipper Alan Shearer warned that there is no room for complacency as they prepare for an eight-game run-in to the end of the Premiership.

United host Blackburn on Saturday hoping to cement their place in the top three and close the gap on Manchester United and the Gunners, and Shearer and Robson will be calling for another big push to preserve their record of never having lost a league fixture after a European tie in 21 attempts to date under the 70-year-old.

“It’s been a roller-coaster for us in the Champions League and we’ve certainly had our ups and downs,” he said. “That’s why we want more next season and that’s why we’ve got to make sure we’re on our mettle for the next eight games in the Premiership.”

Newcastle’s youngsters have learned a series of invaluable lessons as they have made their way in the competition, and none more so than Bellamy, who capped a stormy ride over the last few months with an exhilarating performance last night which might have left him celebrating a hat-trick.