Newcastle Reach Champions League Last 16
Newcastle United advanced to the Champions League Last 16 with a dominant 9-3 aggregate victory over Qarabag. Their next opponent will be either Chelsea or Barcelona, with analysts preferring Chelsea as the "flakier" option. The Magpies currently sit 11th in the Premier League, 4 points off 7th place and 9 points off Champions League qualification.
- This marks Newcastle's fourth appearance in the Champions League in the club's history, with their first coming in the 1997-98 season. Their previous best performance was reaching the second group stage in the 2002-03 campaign. - The victory over Qarabağ included a dominant 6-1 win in the first leg in Baku. With the goals conceded against Newcastle, Qarabağ set a new single-season record for the most goals conceded by one team in the competition, with 30. - This is the first time Newcastle has reached a two-legged Champions League knockout tie since the 2002-03 season, when they were eliminated in the second group stage. - Qarabağ FK became the first team from Azerbaijan to reach the Champions League group stage in the 2017-18 season. - In domestic competitions this season, Newcastle also reached the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and are currently in the fifth round of the FA Cup. - Anthony Gordon is the team's top scorer in all competitions with 14 goals, including four in the Champions League. Bruno Guimarães is the leading scorer for the Magpies in the Premier League with nine goals. - Under the current Champions League format, all 36 teams are ranked in a single league table. The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16, while teams finishing 9th to 24th compete in knockout play-offs.
