Champions League preview: Eight days ago in Milan, the players and management of Newcastle United visited Il Duomo cathedral to offer prayers for their forthcoming Champions League fixture.
Twenty-four hours on Newcastle got a 2-2 draw in the San Siro, but that was based on hard work and no little skill. It is tonight that they will find out if there is someone looking over them. Newcastle can beat Barcelona at St James' Park tonight. But it is the game on the Rhine, not the Tyne, where Newcastle require divine intervention.
Bayer Leverkusen, without a point in Group A, host Internazionale. On average Leverkusen concede nearly three goals a game and Bobby Robson said yesterday that he will be unable to divorce himself from that match due the number of "little budgerigars and canaries singing around the stadium. I don't think I can quieten all the transistors that will be there." But he also said that Newcastle "must focus on ourselves".
Newcastle must not pin too much unwarranted hope on Leverkusen. That said, Kieron Dyer gave an upbeat reminder of Newcastle's position going into the final match of the first group stage and the unforeseen combination of circumstances that saw Newcastle go through having lost the first three games.
Newcastle needed to beat Feyenoord in Rotterdam and hope that Juventus could get a draw in Kiev against Dynamo. Given that Juve had already qualified and sent a weakened squad to Ukraine their win in Kiev's daunting Republic stadium was astonishing. At the same time Craig Bellamy was scoring the 90th-minute winner in Rotterdam. "We went to Feyenoord knowing that even if we won we could have gone out," Dyer said. "I've got a sneaky feeling that Leverkusen could just get a draw (against Inter) and then it is up to us to get our three points."
Despite the fact that Barcelona have won 12 and drawn one of 13 Champions League ties this season, Newcastle will feel confident of victory. Gary Speed, with a groin strain, is Newcastle's only omission, but Barca will not only be without their manager from December Louis van Gaal, they are expected to field a team undermined by injuries and the knowledge that they will finish top regardless of this result.
It could be said Newcastle started this campaign as wide-eyed tourists. But things have changed. "At the beginning we didn't have the experience," Dyer said, "and you question yourself. But we have got stronger and stronger." Newcastle's self-belief has indeed grown and Dyer has more reason than most to perform, having flicked casually at Thiago Motta's header when on the line in the Nou Camp.
Guardian Service
NEWCASTLE UNITED (probable): Given; Hughes, O'Brien, Bramble, Bernard; Solano, Dyer, Jenas, Robert; Shearer, Bellamy.
BARCELONA (possible): Valdes; Oleguer, Andersson, Christanval, Gabri; Mendieta, Gerard, Iniesta, Motta, Rochemback; S Garcia.
