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Newcastle United	3 - 1	Bayer Leverkusen
Half time:	3 - 0
Score Sheet:
Shearer (5) Shearer (11) Shearer (36pen)		Babic (73)
	Teams
Given  Griffin  Bernard  S.Caldwell  Bramble  Kerr  Dyer  Speed  Ameobi  Shearer Robert		Butt Preuss Kleine Cris Placente Kaluzny Ramelow Simak Basturk Neuville Franca
Substitutes:
(70) Solano for Dyer  (80) LuaLua for Shearer  (82) Viana for Kerr		Zivkovic for Cris (29) Babic for Ramelow (46) Brdaric for Neuville (61)
Subs not used:
Harper O'Brien Cort Hughes		Starke Ojigwe Callsen-Bracker Dogan
Bookings:
None		Brdaric
Sendings off:
None		None
Referee: Claus Larsen (Denmark), the man with the whistle when Juventus kept their side of the bargain and won in Kiev the night we were doing the same in Rotterdam. Some relief that he chose not to dismiss (or even caution) Shay Given after the penalty award - much to the disgust of the ITV commentary team, who were baying for blood.
Attendance: 40,508 about 200 supporting the opposition, half of whom had come from Leverkusen and the other half who were apparently based in the UK - inexplicably including some 35 Stockport County fans.... Toon hero was Frank Clark, Fairs Cup winner with United and European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest..

5 mins A tempting, teasing peach of a cross by Gary Speed from the left side of the Leazes penalty area was firmly headed in by the flying form of Alan Shearer 1-0

11 mins It's That Mag Again with a rather softer header after some trickery on the left near the byline from Shola Ameobi. When the ball came over, Cris got tied in all sorts of knots and Alan Shearer was lurking behind him to nod in the deflected cross. 2-0

(19 mins Bayer were awarded a penalty after Given deemed to have tripped Franca. Neuville hit it weakly along the ground and Shay Given dived to his right to clasp the ball.)

36 mins Kieron Dyer motored into the penalty area before being sent spinning around by a clumsy Kleine challenge. A penalty was awarded and duly dispatched forcefully into the top left hand corner of the Bayer goal by Alan Shearer. 3-0

Half time:  Newcastle  3 Leverkusen 0

73 mins A well-worked move gave the visitors a consolation as Babic ran on to be accurately fed by a through ball from Basturk and lob the oncoming Given from 12 yards - a similar goal to the one scored by Leverkusen in the first leg, and thankfully also no more than a consolation.  3-1

Full time:  Newcastle  3 Leverkusen 1

Sir Bobby said:

"The job was to do a job and we did a job.

"There's a sense of belief that we won't be afraid at Inter and we'll look forward to it and we'll go with a lot of confidence about it.

"We know that if we don't get anything there, we might not qualify.

"We need to win both, and then we might qualify. I wanted Barcelona to win - that would have been the better result for us - but they haven't.

"Had that result tonight been the same as last week, it would have been two great results, but unfortunately, it wasn't. We need something in Milan and we obviously have to beat Barcelona at home.

"So we're going to go to Inter Milan, where we know if we don't get something from it, it might not be good enough, so at least there's a fighting spirit in the situation and we know what we have to do.

"...we'll learn, and the object is to stay fighting fit in the Premiership and make sure we're in the same position next year when maybe we can do better. We'll learn from it. The team is better now than it was at the start of the season.

"Our younger players are better and our experienced players are still doing very well. It's a good blend. We're just slightly making progress and improving all the time. We're improving as a team as the season is in progress."

"There's no reason why we should fall away. I know that the Premiership games are coming thick, fast and heavy but we will travel to the San Siro in optimistic mood. We want to stay in the Champions League and we won't be afraid in Italy. We will go there to try and get some points, but we're in the middle of a great run and we're scoring goals.

"I'll be disappointed if we don't qualify for the quarter-finals now - but it's been a great learning curve so far.

"It's upset Alan that he's been out of the team in Europe. He didn't like it and he's thoroughly enjoyed himself against Bayer. He was keen to make up for the two matches he missed and did so in some style. I wanted to take him off earlier, with Saturday's match against Chelsea in mind, but Alan wanted to stay on.

"He could have had a fourth in the second half to put the game beyond doubt and I'm sure he missed it just so I wouldn't withdraw him!"

On Dyer:

"He's done marvellously well, he's got this shin problem and he hasn't trained since Saturday. He was splendid. Some of the things he did, they couldn't live with him."

Brian Kerr spoke to the Chronicle:

It was good to get a game and a start obviously, we got a 3-0 lead and then it came down to being professional and keeping the lead.

"The second half performance wasn't as good as the first half. We just kept it tight and got the victory we needed.

"It's four wins from four starts and long may it continue. It's great to begin games in the league and it's another step to get a start in the Champions League.

"As I've said, I just hope it continues and I keep improving.

"I would say it's probably my best performance. As each game goes by I've been getting that bit more confidence. Another three or four games I'll be at my very best."

"It'll take another three or four games playing outside right to really get used to it. I'm used to the defensive midfield area.

"That's more of an offensive area and hopefully I can keep going and get more offensive things into my game. Hopefully the gaffer will keep giving me chances."

As did Steve Caldwell:

"It was fantastic to be playing on such a big night. The manager has shown a lot of faith in me and I'm glad to be getting plenty of games under my belt.

"And hopefully I have staked my claim for more regular games as it's a delight to be playing in such a good team.

"From Sunday onwards I had a gut feeling I would be playing against Bayer but I didn't know for sure until the boss named the side a couple of hours before the kick-off."

New Leverkusen coach Thomas Hörster said:

"Alan Shearer scored three goals but that defence would make anybody look good and it was impossible to judge Newcastle. There was no defensive posture from us, just nervousness.

"I can't explain it - such mistakes are not to be explained. Cris has played for the Brazilian national side and I simply cannot explain his performance.

"Once again, the main problems came in the first 15 to 20 minutes and that's what really causes the greatest pain. Against such defending, anybody can look good.

"I can't take anything positive from a game of 90 minutes where it is over after 10 minutes."

As Sir Bobby said, his side had a job to do and they did it, with Teutonic efficiency.

The suspicion that Leverkusen had been in accelerating decline ever since Zidane's European cup-winning strike at Hampden Park last May was reinforced at the BayArena last week and emphasised by a near facsimile of that game on Tyneside. 

But they still had to be beaten.

Just as Shola had nodded us in front in Germany after barely five minutes, then so did the returning Shearer in England. And with a second goal from the same source following in quick succession, once again Bayer were looking in vain for inspiration with over an hour left on the clock.

Any thoughts that they may have entertained of gaining a foothold in this match disappeared when Given remained on the pitch and Oliver Neuville hit a soft shoe shuffle of a spot kick that Mike Neville could probably have dispatched with greater force - if anything summed up the Leverkusen display over the two legs it was this- in a word, lame.

With a pair of headers under his belt, the Tyneside crowd waited in an almost hushed and respectful silence for the seemingly inevitable hat trick to be converted and it duly came, some five and a half years after Tino's treble and three and a half years since big Al last achieved the feat, against Sheffield Wednesday.

And it's appropriate that the rubber-legged Colombian madman gets a mention, as a touch of his spirit and swagger could be seen in the performance of Ameobi tonight. Check the video clip out of the second goal (available on the UEFA.com site) and look at the languid style of the dribble followed by the extended leg and foot as the lad knocks it across the goal - echoes of Asprilla.

We've always tried to say it like we see it here, regardless of who the player is, and where Shola is concerned a look back at some of the sixty plus match reports we've compiled where he's played shows that we've often been unimpressed by what we've seen.

However, having endured at times what was a raw and inconsistent talent it's fair to say that the fans and the manager are now starting to get a return on the investment of time, patience and a first team squad number. 

That goal in the Nou Camp looks more and more like a defining moment for him and he seems to have prospered since that night. As ever with us there's a but though, and he should count himself fortunate to have been given time to grow up in public - there are many other former Newcastle youngsters (and maybe even one current one) who would be envious of the treatment he's been afforded.

But Shola's emergence is a genuine bonus in what is turning out to be a season of highs - not least of which is the continued fitness and goalscoring prowess of Shearer, who thoroughly deserved the applause for his feat in this game and indirectly must have helped Shola's development by example in games and in training.

Unlike Asprilla, Ameobi looks as if he's willing to learn - and with England boss Sven in the stand, who knows what the future could hold? The Swede still made the trip to Tyneside despite knowing Shearer is off-limits, what Dyer is all about and that Jenas was sidelined. On that basis both Griffin and Bramble did themselves no harm at all with their respective performances.

Nice also to see a great reception for the return to the side of Viana - in his absence we've started to combine fighting spirit with some genuine quality play and his pace and trickery should dovetail well with the other young guns and older wise men. If he can find a place in the team.

For Kerr as well each game is now a bonus as his career in England kickstarts, and on this occasion both he and Shola were joined on the field by Stevie Caldwell, meaning that even without Aaron Hughes, three Academy graduates were on show. They might not be the pure-bred geordies that Johnny Hall waxed lyrical about but they're the next best thing and similar value for money.

So, like Leeds Leverkusen are a team in transition and their time in the spotlight now draws to a close. For us though we still harbour dreams of repeat performances, glowing reviews and curtain calls. This one could run and run.....

For every unbroken record that gets dreamed up by mediamen, the leading man Big Al supplies the answer via his feet or head. It might not come this season, but let's hope that those hacks and pundits keep on at him about his failure to grasp a trophy during his Newcastle career and that particular prophecy becomes self-fulfilling. Never mind a bigger ground, we'll need a bigger brewery....

See you in Milan. Still playing, still hoping, still fighting. Toon, Toon!

Biffa

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