At a Glance
- Newcastle have faced Champions League royalty
- Three Italian icons collided with the Magpies
- Eddie Howe’s men take to St James’ Park
Even after qualifying for the UEFA Champions League twice in three years, you’d be hard pushed to call Newcastle United ‘regulars’ of the competition.
This season’s jaunt around Europe is only the Magpies’ fourth appearance in Europe’s elite competition, and the first in which they have qualified for the knockout stages.
But despite their lack of consistent European football, the Tyneside outfit has encountered a who’s who of football legends on their travels. Let’s look at four footballing legends who have faced Newcastle United in the Champions League.
Gianluigi Buffon
No discussion of the greatest goalkeepers of all time is complete without mentioning Gianluigi Buffon. The formidable Italian shotstopper enjoyed a career spanning almost thirty years.
Buffon made his Champions League debut in 1997/98 with Parma, going on to win the UEFA Cup with I Gialloblu the following season. In 2001, he joined Juventus, where he spent the majority of his career.
A year later, he was playing at St James’ Park, taking on Newcastle during the group stages of the 2002/03 Champions League. He encountered legendary names such as Ronaldo Nazario, Andre Shevchenko, Francesco Totti and Gabriel Batistuta week in week out in Serie A.
But on that night on Tyneside, the legendary Italian keeper was beaten by the Magpies’ second-choice right back. Picking the ball up in the 18-yard box, Andy Griffin fired a cross-cum-shot hard and low across the box.
The ball seemed to squirm under Buffon before deflecting off him and into the net to give the hosts a famous 1-0 victory. Juventus went on to reach the final of that season’s Champions League, losing on penalties in an all-Italian heavyweight clash with AC Milan at Old Trafford.
Buffon would go on to feature in two more UCL finals, against Barcelona in 2015 and Real Madrid in 2017. He unfortunately lost both, making him, without a doubt, the greatest goalkeeper to never win the biggest prize in club football.
He did win the World Cup in 2006 with Italy, though; he probably sleeps just fine at night.
Fabio Cannavaro
Speaking of the 2006 World Cup, that tournament’s standout player also graced St James’ Park during the 2002/03 season.
Along with Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro had also been a major player in the iconic Parma teams of the mid to late 90s. He won two Coppa Italias, the UEFA Cup, and challenged for Serie A titles.
Cannavaro’s performances for Parma earned him a big-money move to Inter Milan in the summer of 2002, joining the likes of Marco Materazzi and Javier Zanetti in defence. His visit to St James’ ended far better than Buffon’s, at least in terms of the result.
Inter dominated Newcastle and ran out worthy 4-1 winners. Hernan Crespo and Alvaro Recoba were among the goal scorers. Cannavaro, however, nearly ended up in the RVI next door.
Known for his impressive jump despite his 5ft 9 frame, Cannavaro was one of the world’s greatest centre-backs. So it’s no surprise he was tasked with marking one of the world’s greatest strikers, Alan Shearer.
During one Newcastle corner, the two clashed, and Shearer swung an elbow that connected flush with Cannavaro’s jaw, resulting in a retrospective two-match ban for the Geordie striker.
A lesser man may have been decapitated. Fortunately for Cannavaro, he recovered and would go on to captain Italy to victory in the 2006 World Cup, delivering one of the all-time great World Cup performances.
Luis Figo
Newcastle’s game against Barcelona in September 1997 may well be the most famous game in the club’s history.
Just about every fan of black and white persuasion will be able to tell you Tino Asprilla scored three, and Keith Gillespie assisted two of them. What is less remembered is that one of modern football’s biggest names scored for Barcelona that night.
Having already pulled one goal back through Luis Enrique with fifteen minutes remaining, Barca pressed forward looking for a second. On the 89th minute, they got just that.
Warren Barton’s hashed clearance fell to Luis Figo, who struck a low shot from the edge of the box through a sea of black and white shirts. The ball evaded Shay Given, ensuring a tense final few minutes.
Newcastle held on for a famous victory, but the Catalans would go on to win La Liga that season, and the season after. Figo was a huge part of that success, with his quick, skilful displays in midfield complementing the attacking talents of Rivaldo and later Patrick Kluivert.
Seen by many as the leader of Portugal’s underachieving ‘golden generation’, Figo shocked the world in 2000 with the most controversial transfer in football history. He left Camp Nou to join eternal rivals Real Madrid.
The transfer meant that Figo, once a hero to Catalonians, would forever be vilified upon his return to the Nou Camp. The move proved fruitful for the Portuguese midfielder, however, who won the Champions League in 2001/2002 with Real – the trophy that had evaded him at Barcelona.
Alessandro Del Piero
One of the greatest players of his generation, Alessandro Del Piero, had faced Newcastle twice in pre-season friendlies in the late 1990s, even earning a standing ovation from the St James’ Park faithful in August 1998.
Four years later, ‘Alex’ would do battle with The Magpies again in the Champions League, home and away, in the first group stage of the 2002/03 season.
Del Piero may have left St James’ empty-handed after Andy Griffin’s fluke goal gave Newcastle all three points, but a few weeks earlier in Turin, the Juventus captain had stolen the show, scoring both goals in a 2-0 for The Old Lady.
The Bianconeri icon was part of the Juventus side that won the Champions League in 1996, and had been one of the competition’s stand-out performers for much of the 1990s.
Del Piero would go on to reach three more Champions League finals with Juve, but finished as a runner-up in all three.
Like Buffon and Cannavaro, he was a member of the Italy squad that won the 2006 World Cup, and still remains the all-time top scorer and record appearance maker for Juventus.
