Eddie Howe now fires back at claims Newcastle were lucky vs Milan

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Newcastle United emerged from their first Champions League game in over twenty years with a point on Tuesday night.

While it was hardly a vintage night for Newcastle in the San Siro, AC Milan were kept at bay, despite amassing an expected goals (xG) rating of 2.1 (via FBREF) as opposed to the Toon’s rather lowly 0.2.

Still, they stuck to their guns defensively and aside from Rafael Leao’s strange decision to attempt a backheel after a sensational run in the first-half, Newcastle weren’t exactly carved open at will even if the home side had the majority of the chances.

Milan manager Stefano Pioli might be of the belief his team were better than the visitors in every department but Eddie Howe has other ideas.

Eddie Howe insists Newcastle weren’t lucky against AC Milan

Indeed, the Newcastle manager was asked whether or not his team were lucky to emerge from the game with a point on the board in what is generally considered the dreaded ‘Group of Death’, also containing Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, I didn’t think the draw was luck,” he said (via The Chronicle).

“We were slightly disappointed with how we played with the ball tonight but there’s a lot of different reasons for that.”

Newcastle were hardly going to expose themselves on their first game back

With Howe having visited Diego Simeone during his time out of work, the Argentine’s imprint on this particular game was obvious. They absorbed pressure all evening and could even have snatched it at the end following Sean Longstaff’s last-gasp effort.

Though Leao really should have scored, Newcastle defended their 18-yard box “perfectly” in Howe’s view. Nick Pope had to make a number of saves but not too many of them were truly last-ditch efforts.

More attacking enterprise might have been nice but Howe was never likely to leave gaping holes in the team on their first game back at Champions League level for so long, particularly with PSG and Dortmund to come.