Newcastle United’s Champions League journey has come to an end – but it has only fuelled their motivation.
Eddie Howe says Newcastle United have “fierce motivation” to return to the Champions League at the earliest opportunity.
The Magpies’ European journey came to an end on Wednesday night as a 2-1 defeat to AC Milan at St James’ Park resulted in finishing bottom of Group F.
United were drawn in a four-team group along with European royalists Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Milan but came within half an hour of reaching the last 16 before surrendering their 1-0 lead against the Italian giants.
A 20-year wait for a return to Europe’s most elite competition ended dramatically and abruptly but Howe is determined to bring those nights back
“Yeah I definitely think it has whet the appetite in terms of we’d love to get there again and that’s a fierce motivation for us,” Howe said. “[It’s] probably too early to say if it’s had a positive effect on us already.
“Certainly when you have a moment like that you have to allow the players to feel normal emotions before then returning to work. And it’s our job as managers and coaches to then direct the thought process the way you want it to go.
“Certainly for me, it’s the future and we can still have a great season.”
Newcastle face an uphill task to finish inside the Premier League top four this season as they sit seven points away from fourth place Manchester City.
But with key players returning and 22 games still left to play, Howe believes his side can still mount top four challenge, which is also likely to include Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
“Yeah, of course we can, but we’re going to need to have a really good run of form,” Howe told NewcastleWorld.
“We’ve got every chance, we’ve got the games and the points are available for us but we’re going to have to sustain a really good period of form by winning games and improving our away form.
“There are challenges that we need to respond to. But I’ll back the group to do that, we always have historically.”
