Magpies’ luck runs out
A day which started badly with newspapers reporting winger Laurent Robert’s latest grumbles ended in devastation as the Magpies established a 2-0 lead in the tie and then had it snatched from their grasp.
Kieron Dyer’s 20th-minute strike put the visitors, who arrived in Portugal with a 1-0 first leg lead, firmly in the driving seat, but they failed to build upon it.
Marius Niculae levelled five minutes before half-time with a powerful header, but with Titus Bramble and Kieron Dyer both limping off before the hour and Graeme Souness’s gamble to start with 18-year-old Frenchman Charles N’Zogbia backfiring, there was worse to come.
Sa Pinto levelled the tie with 19 minutes remaining and Roberto Beto’s 77th-minute header gave Sporting an aggregate lead which grew in injury-time with Fabio Rochemback’s finish.
The Portuguese side will meet Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the semi-finals with the prize of the final at their own Jose Alvalade Stadium up for grabs. Newcastle return to England with their squad once again depleted and with heavy hearts to face Manchester United in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final.
Sporting scored through Niculae’s header five minutes before half-time, and they would have done so again four minutes later had Shay Given not thrown out a hand to deflect away a volley from Joao Moutinho.
However, before that flurry, emergency striker Dyer had put the Magpies ahead on the night and 2-0 on aggregate, running away from defender Anderson Polga and slipping the ball past keeper Ricardo’s legs.
N’Zogbia, with just two previous starts to his name, was thrown in at the deep end. However, it was the inclusion of walking wounded Given, Dyer, Celestine Babayaro and, just 31 days after he underwent surgery on a hernia, Bramble, which was the bigger gamble.
Waves of Sporting attacks were repelled with Jermaine Jenas, Amdy Faye and Bowyer helping to cover the back four. As the half-time whistle sounded, the visitors knew they were close, but also that they had an immensely difficult 45 minutes ahead of them, and so it proved.
Jenas failed to reappear after the break and James Milner took his place wide on the right, and the newcomer could have effectively sealed his side’s progression within three minutes after Bramble played in Dyer on the right, but despite setting himself well, he drove his shot straight at Ricardo.
However, the Magpies were dealt a double blow as the clock ticked towards one hour when Bramble and Dyer limped off, Andy O’Brien and Patrick Kluivert joining the fray with a battle still to be fought.
Beto planted a 61st-minute header just wide from a Carlos Martins corner, but the home side were becoming increasingly desperate and Peseiro threw on skipper Pedro Barbosa for the impressive Carlos Martins with 22 minutes remaining.
Newcastle were made to pay with 19 minutes left when, after O’Brien had miskicked on the edge of the box, Barbosa fired in a shot which Given could only parry and Sa Pinto tapped home. It got worse for Newcastle with 13 minutes remaining when defender Beto climbed high to power a header past Given from a Rochemback corner, and now the visitors were on the verge of elimination.
Souness’s side threw everything they had at their hosts with time fast running out, but they were toothless, and their fate was sealed in injury-time when Rochemback capitalised on an error by Stephen Carr to make it 4-1 on the night.
: Ricardo, Anderson Polga, Rogerio, Rui Jorge, Beto, Carlos Martins (Pedro Barbosa 67), Rochemback, Joao Moutinho, Sa Pinto (Custodio 89), Niculae (Pinilla 75), Douala.
: Given, Carr, Bramble (Andrew O’Brien 57), Taylor, Babayaro, Jenas (Milner 46), Faye, Bowyer, N’Zogbia, Dyer (Kluivert 60), Shearer.
: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden).
: AZ Alkmaar 1 Villarreal 1 Agg 3-2); Auxerre 2 CSKA Moscow 0 (Agg 2-4); Parma 0 Austria Vienna 0 (Parma go through on away goals).
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