MILAN: Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe on Monday played down concerns about the effects of inclement weather in the Lombardy region of Italy on his side’s Champions League preparations.
The Magpies will face AC Milan on Tuesday night but their flight into Milan Malpensa Airport was delayed by about two and a half hours. As a result, the club’s media obligations at the San Siro on Monday had to be pushed back. The delay meant they fell foul of UEFA regulations and could potentially face sanctions for failing to turn up for interviews in a timely fashion on the day before a game.
The team’s flight was held on the tarmac at Newcastle International Airport for about two hours before the weather in Milan eased, with the area around the San Siro in particular hit badly by heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Howe admitted the delay was hardly ideal ahead of the club’s first game in the Champions League for two decades but added that he does not believe it will make any difference when the action gets underway on Tuesday night.
“It was a weather problem,” he told journalists when the press conference finally began. “We were delayed taking off and we were sat on the runway for quite some time. But that is nothing out of the ordinary for us. We do a lot of traveling in the UK and this happens from time to time. Apologies for being late.”
He added: “It has been a long day for us — early start and late finish. So we have just been trying to get our preparation and game plan right, trying to make sure we are as organized as we can be. It has been intense, as after the Brentford game (in the Premier League on Saturday, which Newcastle won 1-0) it was all focus on this one.
“There is no (concern), we are used to it. Slightly later than we would have liked to arrive, for the players, but it’s not a big deal.”
Though much improved in the past 18 months or so, Newcastle are not yet considered among the favorites in Europe’s top club competition. In fact, few expect them to progress from what many are calling this season’s “group of death,” which also includes Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund. But that has not affected Howe’s ambitions for the competition.
“We want to do as well as we can,” he said. “There is no secret, no surprise in my answer. We want to be very competitive, first and foremost.
“We want to give a really good account of ourselves and impose our style of play on the competition, and with that then we hope we get the results that follow.
“The competitive nature of our game has to be there, which it was against Brentford. We went back to basics again and we need to do that again tomorrow night.”
The match marks the return for the first time of Newcastle’s major summer signing, Sandro Tonali, to the club United obtained him from in July. He has become a bit of a cult hero on Tyneside already but was much loved in Milan as well.
Howe said he is delighted with what he has seen so far from the player, who is expected to return to the side on Tuesday after an injury, and believes there is much more to come from the 23-year-old.
The head coach, who will be making his own Champions League debut, said: “It is very early days for us with Sandro but he is a hugely impressive character. He is really committed to Newcastle, to living in Newcastle, the language — everything we would have wanted him to do.
“It is very difficult to transfer from team to team and country to country. Again, he has committed to everything we asked him to do.
“He picked up an injury while away on international duty but we don’t think it is too serious and we hope he is fit and available for us tomorrow.”
