Fri, 15 Nov 2002

It's Black and White night as Magpies steal in

Pirate Irwin, Agence France-Presse, Paris

Newcastle United became the unlikeliest qualifier for the second phase of the Champions League on Wednesday as all the elements needed to gain a place in the lucrative last 16 came together.

Welsh international Craig Bellamy's last minute goal handed it a 3-2 win away at Feyenoord, while another team in black and white, Juventus, pulled off a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev for its first Champions League away win in 19 matches.

Kiev slumped to third place while Newcastle became the first team to make the second round after losing its first three matches and gave manager Bobby Robson even happier memories of the stadium where he won the Cup Winners Cup with Barcelona in 1997.

Feyenoord was left to survey the ruins of a campaign that sees it surrender its UEFA Cup title without even firing a shot in that competition.

Elsewhere Deportivo La Coruna performed an heroic comeback to beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro and seal its place in the second round alongside its opponents.

French side Lens had to make do with a UEFA Cup spot after fighting back three times to force a 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich and leave France without a representative in the second phase.

Manchester United gave Alex Ferguson something to smile about as it rebounded from its 3-1 humbling in last Saturday's Manchester derby to beat last season's finalist and its conqueror in the last four, Bayer Leverkusen 2-1, with the German side missing a first-half penalty. United will be seeded in Friday's draw.

Israeli outfit Maccabi Haifa took the UEFA Cup slot in the group after drawing 3-3 in Athens with Olympiakos, the Greeks coming back from 3-1 down.

Barcelona's average league form has not translated onto the Champions League and it ended the first phase with the sole 100 percent record as a second-string team saw off the desperately disappointing Turkish side Galatasaray 3-1.

Gala's woes were rounded off as Lokomotiv Moscow jumped from fourth to second with a 2-0 defeat at home to FC Bruges while the Belgians took the UEFA Cup slot, leaving the winners of that competition two years ago out in the cold and without some desperately needed cash.

Feyenoord fought back from 2-0 down but Bellamy repaid Robson's faith in rushing him back after knee trouble by wrapping up a splendid victory.

Newcastle had looked to be cruising to its first ever victory in the Netherlands through goals from Bellamy and Portuguese winger Hugo Viana.

However Feyenoord's introduction of journeyman Argentine striker Mariano Lombarda in the second-half changed matters as he scored in the 65th minute to end the Dutch side's Champions League goal drought after 430 minutes.

Anthony Lurling hit home six minutes later to leave Newcastle reeling.

"What a finale," said Robson. "We had to believe in ourselves right to the end. I could feel we were going to do it - it's always like that in crazy matches like this, something always happens.

"I'm especially happy because at the start of the night we weren't in a strong position.

"Now we're continuing our journey in the competition and it's a great night for the club."

Manchester United secured its somewhat fortuitous victory through goals from Argentinean Juan Sebastian Veron - who was one of those held responsible for the derby humbling - and Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Ferguson declared himself satisfied with his players' response to the public lambasting they received from him in the wake of the City defeat.

"There was a hunger about them which was good to see. I was quite pleased with the performance," the Scot said.