UEFA Cup Result: NUFC 2-0 Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin
Graeme Souness's tenure as Toon boss got off to a dream start last
night as his new team beat Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin 2-0 at St. James' Park
in an ill-tempered game which saw the Israeli side come to Tyneside
to use strong arm tactics - putting in a few wild and hefty challenges.
Patrick Kluivert, making his first home start, scored the two goals
in a display of quality but the night was marred when Nicky Butt received
his marching orders after only two minutes on the pitch.
Player
Ratings
Full
Match Report
Team
Lineups & Match Facts/Stats
NUFC
Milestones From The Game
How
The Goals Were Scored
Match
Reaction From Souness & Kluivert
Match
Reaction From Sakhnin's Manager Eyal Lachman
Your
Shout: Match Reaction From The Toon Army
7 Years Ago Today...
Newcastle United, making our Champions League bow, thumped
the mighty Barcelona 3-2 with a Tino Asprilla hat-trick making it
one of, if not thee, best night in our history. Barcelona come to
St. James' Park with a squad brimming with world-class names such
as Nadal, Figo, Enrique and Rivaldo but the Catalan giants found themselves
3-0 down after 45 minutes due to the Tino and Gillespie super show.
In a first half of exhilarating football we tore the La Liga side
to shreds and with every wave of Black & White sweeps forward
we looked like we were going to score. The noise and passion inside
St. James' that night hasn't been matched since. The whole stadium
was rocking with none stop 90 minute chanting and singing and it didn't
stop there as Tyneside partied on into the small hours long after
the final whistle went. Barca come back into the game in the second
half, pulling back two goals through Enrique and Figo, but Kenny Dalglish's
men hung on for our first ever win in the Champions League on a night
never to forget.
United: Given, Watson, Beresford, Barton, Albert,
Batty, Gillespie, Lee, Asprilla, Tomasson (Peacock), Barnes (Ketsbaia).
Barcelona: Hesp, Reiziger, Celades, Nadal, Sergi,
De la Pena, Figo, Luis Enrique, Amunike (Ciric), Anderson (Dugarry),
Rivaldo.
Attendance: 35,274
Carver Back In Toon As The Exit/Enter Door Still
Revolves
Having been sacked from his role as assistant manager
John Carver has returned to Newcastle to take over the mantle
as director of the club's academy, replacing Brian Eastick
and Gordon Milne who has also left. Meanwhile Celtic's
goalkeeping coach, Terry Gennoe, could make a return
to United after the surprise resignation of Simon Smith
yesterday.
Lets hope the door is as revolving in January...
A Word On Patrick Kluivert...
Outstanding! How good is it to see Paddy in a Toon top scoring
goals and playing like he did? He fully justified his selection and
will have hammered home his right to start more games with two goals
and an overall outstanding performance.
Those goals aside, the most pleasing aspect of his performance was
his work rate - which should shut up the critics who claim he's a
mercenary for...a few days. Up against a team of miss-fits many thought
he would stroll about with his socks down but he worked his socks
off both in attack and in defensive situations. The man is utter class
and star quality. If Souness doesn't pick him against Southampton
he must be mad. He was by far the best player on the pitch and some
of his close control was worth the ticket price alone.
He's quite quick as well and strong as an ox. He got a good kicking
as well but he just got back up, dusted himself down and got on with.
I liked the way he was always applauding his fellow team-mates even
when balls didn't come off and he was encouraging Shola a lot as well.
I think he loves it here and his goals meant a lot to him - just look
at the way he ran to the crowd and his facial expressions were that
of a happy player. I hope Souness can find it in himself to add the
name of Kluivert when he's talking about the "senior professionals"
because Paddy was every inch that last night. World-class player and
it's great to finally see him score goals and to play like he did
in the Black & White.
Well done Paddy K!
Not A Full House But Still The Best In Europe
Despite missing some 20,000 plus supporters from last night's
game, Newcastle's official attendance of 30,221 was still the highest
figure of all UEFA Cup matches played throughout Europe last night
- including Middlesbrough's home tie against Banik Ostrava. Only 29,746
turned up at the Riverside to see the Smoggies make their European
debut...
Toon's Away Leg Live On TV
Newcastle's second leg against Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin in Tel
Aviv will be screened live on Channel 5 it was confirmed last night.
Lets hope our performance isn't as wooden as John Barne's presenting... |
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