Achievement requires a context and while few among the hardy souls at St James’ Park last night would claim to have witnessed European glory to rival Newcastle United’s famous demolition of Barcelona, or other fading memories of Champions League skirmishes, Glenn Roeder and his players earned themselves credit. It has not been a currency they have luxuriated in this season.
On their last home appearance, a vacuous 1-0 defeat by Sheffield United that prompted demonstrations against Freddy Shepherd, the chairman, the team had tramped from the pitch to the jarring sound of derision. Their league position remains precarious, yet they have found solace and redemption in the Uefa Cup. This victory, their third in the group and secured late in the encounter, hoisted them into the last 32 with a game to spare.
Having recovered from conceding an early goal, Newcastle grappled back against Celta Vigo, who have travelled to Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña this season and won. Resilience was their watchword. With battered bodies and lowered expectations because of injury, force of will was a great ally. They clung on, endured and responded.
The competition has dragged heroics from the bit-parts, stand-ins and squad fodder, not least Antoine Sibierski, who has now mustered four goals for the club he joined to a fanfare of raspberries on transfer deadline day. The Frenchman headed an equaliser in the 36th minute, while Steven Taylor scored his first goal for his local team shortly before the end.
Shorn of players, Newcastle dredged the depths of mediocrity during a dry first half, but the circumstances denied them a bevy of players, gave them limited confidence and other priorities. With only three fit senior defenders to their name and Shola Ameobi, Michael Owen, Giuseppe Rossi and Kieron Dyer missing from their attack, damage limitation must have beckoned invitingly, but they eschewed excuses.
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They have now beaten Celta, Fenerbahçe and Palermo, all of them narrowly but all encumbered by the same restrictions. A crowd of 25,079 was a fair reflection of the drawn-out, anti-competitive nature of the group phase, as well as recent difficulties, but those present left satisfied. They will return in two days, for a Barclays Premiership fixture of huge significance against Portsmouth.
“Sunday is vital to us,” Roeder, the manager, said. “We know the importance of it, of getting up the table. It’s mystifying that we’ve had these very good results in Europe and in the Carling Cup and not in the league, but all we can do is try to win the next game. It’s frustrating for everybody — myself, players, the chairman and fans.”
Sibierski’s selection as a lone striker was less a ploy to breed fear in Galician hearts than an uncomfortable necessity. Supported — a contradiction in terms — by Albert Luque, who was stationed on the left, allegedly his favoured position, the Frenchman ran hard and willingly and, yet again, summoned inspiration. He had done the same against Fenerbahçe and Levadia Tallinn.
Confronted by a superior Celta team, who were worthy of their ninth-minute lead, Roeder’s players occasionally bore the glazed look of boxers on the ropes. From a move that originated on the right, Ernesto Canobbio beat Emre Belözoglu to the ball and directed a 20-yard shot beyond Shay Given with a flick of his left boot. In terms of movement, possession and intelligence, the Spaniards were dominant.
From somewhere, Newcastle found a punch. The chance that Luque dragged wide of the target after 20 seconds was not a prophecy for what would follow, yet for all the scrappy football, heads did not drop.
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James Milner, increasingly impressive, charged to the byline and crossed with precision, allowing Sibierski to barge in front of Ángel López, the right back, and head down into the turf and the net.
On the weight of statistics, Newcastle could have been ahead, and the restoration of parity prompted improvement. Milner began the second period by tearing into Diego Placente and flitting across the area, while Emre thudded a volley, struck on the turn, narrowly awry. Simultaneously, Celta’s composure dissipated as they were harried and pressed to every tackle.
Even Roeder, the eternal optimist, would not have dared to hope for the unlikely denouement, however. From a Luque corner in the 85th minute, Taylor rose majestically to bludgeon a header past Esteban Suárez, prompting a fist-pumping celebration that took him the length of the pitch. “When I walked into the dressing-room, I heard a few shouts of ‘Forrest Gump,’ ” Roeder said.
The manager described the evening as “fantastic”, the victory as “special”, but, as ever, there was balance. Damien Duff underwent surgery yesterday on a cartilage injury that will enforce his absence for up to six weeks.
Newcastle United (4-1-4-1): S Given — N Solano, S Taylor, T Bramble,
P Ramage — N Butt (sub: S Parker, 65min) — J Milner, Emre Belözoglu (sub: O Martins, 70), C N’Zogbia, A Luque — A Sibierski. Substitutes not used S Harper, P Huntington, A Carroll, D Edgar, J Troisi.
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Celta Vigo (4-4-1-1): E Suárez — A López, Yago, P Contreras, Placente — J Aspas, Iriney, B Oubina, Nene (sub: G López, 74) — F Canobbio (sub: J Larena, 86) — Baiano (sub: J Perera, 61). Substitutes not used J Pinto, J Vila, F Juncal, D Martino. Booked Cannobio.
Referee: D van Egmond (Netherlands).
FIXTURES: Nov 30: Celta Vigo v Fenerbahçe; Eintracht Frankfurt v Newcastle Utd. Dec 13: Palermo v Celta Vigo; Fenerbahçe v Eintracht Frankfurt.