Newcastle have the quality to make a real impact in the Champions League knockout stages, said Eddie Howe after the Magpies secured their place in the last 16.
A 3-2 second leg win at St. James’ Park completed a 9-3 aggregate demolition of Azerbaijan champions Qarabağ, confirming Newcastle as one of six Premier League sides in the draw on Friday – when they will discover whether Barcelona or Chelsea await them next month.
And Howe was in no mood to simply enjoy the moment. He said: “We want to go as far as we can and why not? I think we’re good enough to do it.
“That’s the great thing now in our season. There’s a positive feel that whoever we get in the next round, it will be an amazing tie for us.
“I believe that we can raise our game and compete with anybody. That’s what we’re going to have to do whoever we get, but I just think it’s a massive thing for us to give our season an extra boost to get through this knockout phase and then into the next one.
“That’s the mindset we have to have. We have to believe in ourselves. I think we’ve seen the best of ourselves this year when we’ve gone into cup games and one-off games where we’ve been able to really rise to whatever challenge we’ve had in front of us.”
It is the first time Newcastle have reached the last 16 in their four attempts in the competition, and represents a significant milestone in the club’s European journey.
The outcome was never really in doubt after last week’s 6-1 rout in Baku, and any lingering Qarabağ optimism was extinguished within six minutes when Sandro Tonali and Joelinton struck in quick succession.
The visitors showed considerably more fight than they had in Azerbaijan, with Camilo Duran and Elvin Jafarguliyev both finding the net after the break, but Sven Botman’s header in between ensured a comfortable enough night for the hosts.
Howe said: “It’s a massive achievement for us to get to the last 16. I don’t care who you play at this stage, it’s a tough draw and we did the majority of the work in the away game.
“But we’ve come through really well and today. We were able to rotate our squad to a degree with mixed success. I don’t think it was a great performance, but I’m really pleased that we won.”
Qarabağ boss Gurban Gurbanov took pride in his side’s improved display, saying: “I would like to thank my players because they had a long Champions League campaign. In short, I would like to say I am very satisfied with their game because their performance was great.”
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