Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has encouraged his players to ‘dream big’ ahead of tomorrow evening’s UEFA Champions League play-off second leg tie against Qarabag FK.
Newcastle head into the game, their 150th in European competition, with the tie as good as over following their 6-1 demolition of the Azerbaijani champions last week.
But despite their 5-0 aggregate lead and suggestions of fielding a side featuring young prospects such as Alex Murphy and Sean Neave, Howe is keen to ensure that his side focuses on finishing the job they started in Baku.
“We’ll look at the squad and try to pick a strong team. The first target is to win the game.
“We want to keep a good rhythm with the players,” Howe said.
Barring a catastrophic collapse, Newcastle will reach the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in their history, a target that Howe set the players in pre-season.
“It’s something we spoke about before the competition started, it was our initial target to reach the last 16”.
While Newcastle’s Premier League form has been inconsistent, the Magpies have reserved their best displays for the cup competitions, reaching the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and still challenging in both the FA Cup and Champions League.
“It’s been really important. There’ve been some great performances. I think we’ve saved our best for this competition.” Howe said of his side’s Champions League campaign.
Despite never reaching the last 16 of Europe’s premier competition before, Howe maintains a pragmatic optimism while assessing how far his side can go in the Champions League
“When you’re at that stage, anything can happen”.
“I encourage them to dream and to think ‘what if’, it’s healthy for the group”.
Newcastle United take on Qarabag on Tuesday, 24th February at 8 pm, live on Amazon Prime.
