Newcastle United make Champions League statement ahead of final 10 Premier League matches
Newcastle United have won the Carabao Cup but they don’t want their campaign to stop there.
Newcastle United have set their sights on sealing Champions League qualification for the second time in three seasons.
The 2024-25 campaign is already guaranteed to go down as a historic one for the Magpies after they ended their 70-year domestic trophy drought by winning the Carabao Cup last month.
To celebrate, an open-top bus parade and an open-air event on the Town Moor took place on Saturday, which was attended by 300,000 supporters. An estimated 150,000 people lined the streets of Tyneside before the same number attended the Town Moor event.
Not long before Eddie Howe and his players walked onto the stage, the local and national media were invited to speak with the Newcastle head coach and a handful of his players. And while they provided a lot of colourful quotes about the cup success and scenes across the city, it was telling that they also referenced the remaining 10 matches of the league season.
By winning the Carabao Cup, the Magpies have already secured a play-off spot in next season’s Europa Conference League. But they want more and by more, that is Champions League football.
As it stands, Howe’s squad are right in the mix. Because of UEFA coefficient rules, a top-five finish will likely be enough to qualify for the Champions League. United currently sit sixth, one point behind fifth place Chelsea with a game in-hand.
Newcastle United players set sights on Champions League qualifcation
“That’s the aim, we’ve got 10 huge games now,” said winger Jacob Murphy. “Although this is lovely and we’re taking it all in, I think that’s secretly in the back of everyone’s mind now.
“There’s 30 points to get and we need to try our best because we might have got some sort of European football but we want the big dog.”
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“The manager is driving that message home, don't worry,” added Tino Livramento. You know what he is like, he doesn't let standards slip. We just have to use this as a little boost to go out there, play with confidence and chase those Champions League places.”
Meanwhile, Dan Burn said: “Yes, you've got to use it as fuel. I think that's the good thing about today. I feel like it puts an end to the celebrating, and then we've got however many games left that we've really got to kick on.
“We've got that European Conference League play-off place, but we said that we wanted the Champions League. We've got a really good position, so I think it's good today that we can box it off and then go and concentrate on Wednesday.”