One Champions League manager says he really didn’t want to draw Newcastle

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Newcastle United are up and running in the Champions League.

Though there was no fairytale return to the top table of European football, Newcastle got a creditable draw away at AC Milan on Tuesday evening.

While they were perhaps fortunate Rafael Leao did not score after a sensational run in the first-half, Eddie Howe’s side were far from played off the park.

Indeed, they have proven – admittedly in a small sample size – they can compete.

Which makes comments from Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi even more interesting.

Simone Inzaghi says he didn’t want to draw Newcastle

The Italian was speaking on Tuesday before Newcastle’s draw with Milan and a day prior to Inter’s game against Real Sociedad.

Having reached the final last year, Inzaghi certainly knows a thing or two about navigating through the Champions League group stage and says the Magpies were the team he wanted to avoid, along with Sociedad.

“It [reaching the final] was a great journey, this year it starts again against a strong team, on a warm pitch,” he said in quotes relayed by TuttoMercatoWeb.

“I wanted to avoid Sociedad and Newcastle from the fourth pot, but we will play it like last year, knowing that it will be difficult to repeat what we did, but that we want to try again.”

Teams know playing Newcastle won’t be easy

As Milan subsequently found later out on Tuesday, Newcastle will not be an easy touch in the Champions League.

Yes, they lack experience in the competition and do need to show more in an attacking sense than they did on Tuesday but that can come over time.

For even last year’s finalists to be wary about the prospect of playing Howe’s side says so much about the progress they have made.

Now, it’s about building on that.