AC Milan vs Newcastle live updates: Champions League opening team news, latest lineups, predictions – The Athletic

I can’t believe it was 20 years ago and I didn’t realize it was Newcastle’s last away game in the Champions League. And now we return to the San Siro… Wow. At the time, we didn’t feel like it was an end. No way. We knew the result would be damaging immediately, but there was also the euphoria of being there and playing so well and, in my case, scoring twice.

We had had a good run and we had a decent team, with good young players and quite a bit of experience; me, Shay Given, Gary Speed, Nobby, Bellers and one or two others. We were all on top. What an arena, what a performance!

The other day I watched 10 minutes of the match on YouTube with what looked like Russian commentary, which was a bit surreal, but it brought back some good memories. And it reaffirmed the idea that we could have and probably should have won. We had enough chances. But it was a brilliant night, great for us as a club and very important for our fans.

Learn more below.

AC Milan will still be recovering from their unlucky weekend after being beaten 5-1 by Inter at the San Siro on Saturday. Fortunately for Pioli and his players, they have the opportunity to make up for it today.

“It wasn’t easy, we had a lot of expectations around the derby, there was a lot of positivity and confidence, and it went badly the way it happened,” said the coach of AC Milan.

“It was a huge disappointment, but we have the Champions League now, fortunately, because it’s the only way for us to try and change direction.

“I owe a debt to the fans because last season, when we played very badly, they always supported us.”

Meanwhile, AC Milan’s last Champions League campaign is much fresher in memories and they went much further, even if they ended in crushing disappointment at the hands of their closest rivals .

After trailing Chelsea in the round of 16 in Group E, they eliminated Tottenham and Napoli in the subsequent rounds by a single goal, setting up a seismic encounter with Inter in the semi-finals.

As the home team for the first leg, it started in the worst way as their city neighbors led 2-0 within 11 minutes of kick-off. Pioli’s side could not recover and limped out of the competition with a 3-0 aggregate defeat.

Group stage

• Red Bull Salzburg 1-1 AC Milan
• AC Milan 3-1 Dinamo Zagreb
• Chelsea 3-0 AC Milan
• AC Milan 0-2 Chelsea
• Dinamo Zagreb 0-4 AC Milan
• AC Milan 4-0 Red Bull Salzburg

Knockout stage

• AC Milan 1-0 Tottenham
• Tottenham 0-0 AC Milan
• AC Milan 1-0 Napoli
• Napoli 1-1 AC Milan
• AC Milan 0-2 Inter Milan
• Inter Milan 1-0 AC Milan

Newcastle United are working with Italian authorities after a fan was allegedly “seriously assaulted” ahead of the Champions League match against AC Milan.

Reports in Italy suggest a fan was attacked before Tuesday’s match with photos circulating on social media of a man being treated by medics.

Other reports suggest the fan was stabbed in the back and arms by a group of attackers before being taken to a local hospital. The club is now working to establish the exact circumstances of the incident.

A club spokesperson said on Tuesday: “We are deeply concerned by reports that a supporter was seriously assaulted in Milan on Monday evening and we are in contact with the local authorities to understand the circumstances.”

Newcastle’s last appearance in the Champions League was in the summer of 2003, although a third qualifying round defeat to Serbian club Partizan Belgrade meant they did not reach the group stage.

Their last participation in the group stage was a year earlier, when the Champions League had two group stages.

In the first group stage, they came second after being drawn alongside Juventus, Feyenoord and Dynamo Kyiv, leading to the second group stage where they faced Barcelona, ​​Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen.

Two wins against the latter were the highlights as they were beaten twice by Barcelona and could only pick up a point against Inter thanks to Alan Shearer’s brace at San Siro.

First group stage

• Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 Newcastle
• Newcastle 0-1 Feyenoord
• Juventus 2-0 Newcastle
• Newcastle 1-0 Juventus
• Newcastle 2-1 Dynamo Kyiv
• Feyenoord 2-3 Newcastle

Second group stage

• Newcastle 1-4 Inter Milan
• Barcelona 3-1 Newcastle
• Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Newcastle
• Newcastle 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen
• Inter Milan 2-2 Newcastle
• Newcastle 0-2 Barcelona

Less than three months after leaving Milan for Newcastle, Tonali is back at San Siro.

The Champions League draw has resulted in a dream draw for the Italian midfielder who will have the opportunity to pay tribute to the fans he left behind this summer.

During his first loan spell and then after signing permanently, Tonali made 130 appearances for AC Milan in all competitions, scoring seven goals and providing 13 assists.

During his three years at the club, his standout moments helped them win the Scudetto in 2021-22 and reach the Champions League semi-final last season.

Although there was a surprise it was Newcastle who decided to sign Tonali, there was no doubt that he would probably end up leaving Milan for big money.

A fee in the region of €70m (just over £60m) has been agreed between the clubs and he has already made four appearances for his new side. He immediately rewarded the significant outlay with the opening goal in just six minutes on his debut against Aston Villa.

The same against Milan would be just what the doctor ordered for Eddie Howe’s men.

The weekend brought some well-deserved good news for Newcastle fans as they ended their three-game losing streak against Brentford.

However, Eddie Howe confirmed after the match that Joelinton would not be fit to play a role at San Siro after injuring his knee on international duty.

The Brazilian midfielder joins Joe Willock and defender Emil Krafth on the physio table.

Sandro Tonali, who will return to Milan for the first time since joining Newcastle, was only fit enough for the bench against Brentford but will hope to be fit to start at San Siro.

Milan boss Stefano Pioli will be without a few players for the visit of Newcastle.

Ismael Bennacer is still recovering from the knee surgery he underwent following the first leg of last season’s semi-final, while Pierre Kalulu is expected to remain sidelined with a thigh injury.

England defender Fikayo Tomori was suspended for the weekend’s derby defeat but will return to contention for today’s match. For his part, Olivier Giroud’s involvement was threatened by an injury while on duty with France, but he emerged unscathed for 77 minutes of Saturday’s match and should therefore be available again.

Newcastle fans hoping to travel around Europe over the coming months will be happy with their excellent draw, but those staying at home might have preferred to see them in one of the other (easier) groups .

Here are the groups in full:

• group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, FC Copenhagen, Galatasaray
• Group B: Sevilla, Arsenal, PSV, Lens
• Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga, Union Berlin
• Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan, Red Bull Salzburg, Real Sociedad
• Group E: Feyenoord, Atlético Madrid, Lazio, Celtic
• Group F: PSG, Dortmund, AC Milan, Newcastle
• Group G: Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys
• Group H: Barcelona, ​​Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Antwerp

Many Newcastle fans weren’t even alive when the club last entered the Champions League group stage draw.

However, come August 31, Tyneside will have been hooked on the updates coming from Monaco.

Unfortunately for them, they found themselves in probably the strongest group in this year’s competition. The Group of Death, most called it.

Group F

• PSG
• Borussia Dortmund
• AC Milan
• Newcastle United