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Published : 01 Oct 2025, 01:09 AM
Newcastle United need to win Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Union Saint-Gilloise or risk having to play catch-up in the group phase, manager Eddie Howe warned on Tuesday.
Newcastle lost their opening group phase clash at home to Barcelona earlier this month but are fancied to get the better of the Belgian champions on Wednesday, even if they have won only one of their past four outings and that was against third-tier Bradford City in the League Cup.
"It's never been lost on me as a manager that winning is the be-all and end-all. You can play as well as you want but you have to try and win,” Howe told a pre-match press conference.
"You have to find a way to win with all types of performances. And we've done that well for the last year.
"I think in terms of the Champions League, it's important you do that very quickly otherwise you leave yourself with too far to come."
Newcastle’s remaining Champions League programme includes trips to Olympique de Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and holders Paris St Germain.
On Wednesday they will be without Tino Livramento, who was injured in Sunday's Premier League loss to Arsenal.
"We're still awaiting feedback on the extent of his injury. But I think apart from that we're OK," the manager said.
Howe added that defeat by Arsenal should be a motivator for his players who saw a point snatched away in stoppage time.
“If you could replay those moments again, we would have to do better as a group, respond better to the threat we faced in the final few minutes.
"The game hinged on big moments; there are other moments that happened that I could say we were slightly unlucky with this or that. But ultimately, we needed to be better in those last few minutes.
"And that, in the end, would've been a very good point to take into this game. We have to use that as motivation to go again, regroup, and come back stronger," the Newcastle boss said.
