Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe wants “positive result” against Barcelona

The latest North East sport headlines, from Daniel Wales.

Transcript

00:00Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has said that he is looking for a positive result

00:05as the Magpies take on Spanish champions Barcelona at St James' Park.

00:10It is almost 28 years to the day since the two sides met in a Champions League match

00:15that saw Newcastle win 3-2 with a Tino Asprea hat-trick.

00:20Yeah, absolutely. I think it is a historic fixture.

00:24I think it's one that as soon as we realised we were drawn against Barcelona

00:28and it had a sort of a magical feel to it.

00:32I think it will be an amazing game to experience.

00:37Obviously, we've been focusing on the tactical preparation

00:39and making sure we deliver a good performance.

00:43I'm really excited to sample the atmosphere.

00:45I think that will just be an incredible thing again.

00:48So I think we can use those experiences to help us.

00:50I think for this individual game, which is all we can focus on,

00:53is trying to get a positive result.

00:55It's trying to prepare the players for the game.

00:56And we've in part done that yesterday and today

01:00and we've still got some preparations to finish off.

01:03We're looking forward to seeing how we play against them

01:05and how we match up as a team.

01:07Certainly a lot of confidence now restored to the group having won on Saturday.

01:11And Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards has previewed his side's tie

01:16against West Bromwich Albion in the Championship at the Riverside Stadium on Friday evening.

01:22Borough will be hoping to make it five wins out of six in the league so far this season.

01:27We're always aware of the opposition and we have to respect what they've got.

01:31Yeah, they've got some really good players, especially that attacking sort of front four,

01:35as you mentioned then.

01:37They're very good without the ball.

01:39They've got a real clear identity, both with and without it.

01:43But they've got some real threats in that top area of the pitch.

01:45So, of course, we have to be aware of that.

01:47We've made the players aware of that.

01:48We can do our homework, as we always do for every team.

01:51So, there's always little tweaks for every opposition.

01:55But then we've also got to then try and look at the areas that we think we can hurt them as well

01:59and go and try and imprint our game on them as well.

02:02But it'll be a difficult one, no doubt about it.

02:04They're a good team.

02:06When our mentality is right and we're working hard,

02:09then, you know, because we've got good players, we're a good team.