Shola hopes kid brother Sammy grows into great

Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi is backing younger brother Sammy to surpass him as the pair prepare to launch a double assault on Europe.

The Ameobis would become the third pair of siblings to start a senior competitive game for the Magpies if manager Alan Pardew gives them the nod against Club Brugge at St James’ Park tonight after George and Ted Robledo in the 1950s and Matty and Richard Appleby four decades later.

Striker Shola, pictured, now 31, broke into the first-team squad under Bobby Robson as a teenager and now midfielder Sammy, almost 11 years his junior, is attempting to do the same.

However, the older brother is convinced the younger has a massive future in the game.

Shola said: “He’s trying to go through what I’ve been through. But we have got a great relationship now.

“I feel that as a big brother, I have to make sure he’s on the right track all the time. I know my parents expect that of me, and it’s something I’m conscious about doing.

“I’m sure he’s well aware of how hard it’s going to be and what he has to put in to make it to the very top.

“But I want to see him surpass anything I’ve ever done in this game and I know he has the ability to do that. He can do that, without a shadow of a doubt.”

Pardew has confirmed that the younger Ameobi will start, along with Northern Ireland international Shane Ferguson and midfielder Cheick Tiote, who will spend much of the next month kicking his heels after being sent off in Sunday’s 1-1 derby draw at Sunderland.

Newcastle are yet to concede a goal in four games in Europe and currently sit a point clear at the top of Group D.

Brugge boss Georges Leekens, who played in the Brugge side which lost to a Kevin Keegan-inspired Liverpool in the 1976 Uefa Cup final, faces the Magpies without Michael Almeback, Jim Larsen, Ryan Donk, Niki Zimling and Thomas Meunier through injury while Colombian striker Carlos Bacca, who has scored nine goals in his past eight games, is a doubt.