Newcastle into last 16 after convincing aggregate win over Qarabagpublished at 22:57 GMT 24 February
22:57 GMT 24 February
FT: Newcastle 3-2 Qarabag (9-3 agg)
Ciaran Kelly
BBC Sport reporter at St James’ Park
Newcastle United cruised into the last 16 of the Champions League following another victory against Qarabag.
Eddie Howe’s side already had one foot in the next round after a 6-1 rout in Azerbaijan last week. Much-changed Newcastle duly picked up from where they left off in Baku, after again racing into a two-goal lead, but this was a night where spirited Qarabag gave a much better account of themselves thereafter.
Sandro Tonali opened the scoring for Newcastle in the fourth minute after Qarabag goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski could only parry William Osula’s header into the path of the Italian, who could hardly miss to net his first ever goal in the competition.
Newcastle scored another just a couple of minutes later when Harvey Barnes drilled the ball across goal and the unmarked Joelinton fired home expertly on the volley. Qarabag could have gone under, as they did after going behind so early in the first leg, but the visitors rallied to their credit.
The Azerbaijan Premier League champions pulled one back after half-time when Camilo Duran skipped away from Dan Burn and finished clinically past Aaron Ramsdale to give the travelling support a moment to remember following a mammoth 2,500-mile journey.
Newcastle defender Sven Botman quickly restored Newcastle’s seven-goal aggregate lead when he headed home from Kieran Trippier’s corner kick, but Qarabag responded once again.
Qarabag were awarded a penalty after Burn handled the ball inside the box and although Ramsdale kept out Marko Jankovic’s spot-kick, Elvin Cafarguliyev was quickest to react to knock in the follow up.