Eddie Howe said managing Newcastle in the Champions League is something he will never take for granted.

Wednesday marks two years since Howe was appointed manager, with the Magpies 19th in the Premier League table and five points from safety.

Fast forward to 2023 and Howe said that preparing to play the likes of Borussia Dortmund was not something he thought would be possible so soon.

"When we took over the vision was very short term," he said.

"It was, can we stay in the Premier League? We hadn’t won for some time. It was getting that first win and building confidence form there. Once that came, we steadily improved.

"To be at this point so soon after those moments is something we don’t take for granted."

Defender Fabian Schar echoed Howe's sentiments.

On whether he could have imagined playing in Europe with Newcastle when he first joined them, he added: "Probably not, at that stage I wouldn’t even think about it. It was different times.

"The first three or four years were more or less playing against relegation and it is very different. It makes it better for myself to be at this club, which I love so much, and now playing Champions League and having these good times. I’m just enjoying the moment.

"It’s just improvement from every individual. We’ve been on a brilliant journey.

"I have never had such togetherness in a squad before in my career. It’s unbelievable. I’m really happy to be part of it. I think that’s the same for many other players. We just try to fight for each other."

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle's Fabian Schar has welcomed his reunion with Jamaal Lascelles in the Magpies defence.

Speaking before Tuesday's Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund, Schar said: "It’s been brilliant.

"He’s stepping in and performing at a really high level. I’m really happy for him because it wasn’t easy not playing too much.

"I was in a similar situation. But he is so professional and a great character off the pitch and has performed really well."

Lascelles' return has largely been down to Newcastle's injury problems in defence, made worse by Dan Burn's recent back injury which will sideline him for a number of months.

On Burn's absence, Schar said: "It is a big blow. Dan is so important for us.

"He has been brilliant, not just on the pitch but off the pitch, and it’s another blow in terms of injuries. Now it’s time for other players to step up and I’m really confident in the team."

Schar said Eddie Howe's side head into Tuesday's game full of confidence after a hard-fought win over Arsenal.

"I’m feeling good. A win always helps, especially against a top team. It gives you boost and confidence.

"Everyone who steps into the team is performing at a high level. We have a few injuries but I’m proud of the team and the quality we have.

"When we play at home, the crowd give us so much and it’s going to be the same for them tomorrow. But we have to focus on ourselves and forget the noise going on around us and focus on our performance."

Image source, Getty Images

Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic has told his players to increase their performance levels against a Newcastle side seeking revenge.

Since beating the Magpies 1-0 at St James' Park, Dortmund have only won one of their three games - including a 4-0 thrashing at home to Bayern Munich - while Newcastle have won two and drawn one.

Speaking before Tuesday's return fixture at Signal Iduna Park, Terzic said: "We need to improve because we know that they [Newcastle] are not happy with the way that they performed at St James' Park and they will want to do much better tomorrow. So if they are going to do it better, we have to do it better.

"That's something we have focused on, it is something we're going to talk about with the team this afternoon, again to be ready for, and then we've got to do everything to also use the chance to get a home win and make a big step in the group."

Dortmund are level on points with Eddie Howe's side in Group F, but are above them based on head-to-head record.

"To be honest, we don't need a warning because of course we know the quality of Newcastle. We found out how good they are two weeks ago," Terzic added.

"Then they've had three games since, a draw against Wolves and in the cup they beat Manchester United and then they beat Arsenal at home, so we know their quality.

"We know they are not happy with the way they performed two weeks ago. They are not happy; we are not happy with how we performed last Saturday.

"We know that we have to be ready from the start and as you saw from the game two weeks ago, they had two great chances at the end of the game. It means we need a good start, we need a good performance and we need to stay focused until the end."

Harry De Cosemo
BBC Sport at Signal Iduna Park

Just under half an hour until kick off and the Yellow Wall is primed.

Newcastle’s players were roundly booed when they came out for the warm up.

• Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win over Newcastle was their first meeting in European competition, while they last won home and away against an English side in a Champions League campaign in 1996-97 against Manchester United (1-0 wins home and away in the semi-finals).
• Newcastle are winless in their past two games against German sides in European competition, after winning each of their first four such matches between 2001 and 2003.
• Eddie Howe's side drew 0-0 at Milan in their previous away game in the Champions League this season, despite facing 25 shots and only attempting six themselves.
• The last English manager to win an away game against a German side in the Champions League was Bobby Robson, who led Newcastle to a 3-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen in February 2003. Since then, English managers are winless in three such matches.
• Dortmund are unbeaten in their past six home games in the Champions League and have only conceded one goal in this run.
• The last Newcastle player to score a goal away from home in the Champions League was Alan Shearer in March 2003, who netted a brace against Internazionale.
• Alexander Isak is the only player to have played for both current club Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, although [if fit] this will be his first appearance in the competition at Signal Iduna Park. His only game for Dortmund in the competition came away to APOEL Nicosia in October 2017, as an 18-year-old.
• Bruno Guimaraes has been booked in his past two games in the Champions League for the Magpies and could become the first player to be shown a yellow card in three consecutive Champions League appearances for the club.

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on TNT Sports: "We hope the team perform really well and I think we have a good mix of experience, youth and athleticism to do well in this game.

"We still had options but we needed to pick a team to give us the best chance to show our athleticism. We're in good form, confidence should be high. We are going to need to play very well, you can see already what this will be like in terms of atmosphere and dealing with that will be a big thing for us.

"They have made changes and probably a couple of the choices they have made have surprised us.

"When you look at Lewis Hall’s performance at Old Trafford, he performed brilliantly and it's the same with Tino [Livramento], this will be an invaluable experience for them.

"We are going to need an impact from the bench so we have those two top players [Miguel Almiron & Anthony Gordon] up our sleeves."

Newcastle's sporting director Dan Ashworth says the club aim to "compete for trophies" as he looks ahead to aspirations for the coming years.

The Magpies continued to show their strength in the Premier League by handing Arsenal their first league defeat of the season on Saturday, and beat Manchester United last week to secure a spot in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

This season also marked their return to the Champions League, where they face Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night sitting third in Group F.

"The next number of years is to fight and get into the top six on a regular basis and compete for trophies," Ashworth said. "We are on an upward trajectory, but there are definitely some bumps in the road and that is the nature of football - but we are on the right pathway.

"What's really difficult is to be able to compete commercially as well. Some of those clubs have been a global brand for decades. That's one of the big challenges for Peter (Silverstone), Darren (Eales) and the team as well.

"We've all got to try and work together to try and get ourselves into a situation where not only are we a top-six club on the pitch, but also a top-six club off the pitch. To really try and drive the revenues and interest in the club as well, which gives us more ammunition in order to be able to compete on the pitch."

Despite a dramatic turnaround in fortunes at St James' Park since his arrival in June 2022, Ashworth refuses to take any success for granted.

"Complacency is a dangerous thing isn't it?," he added. "Certainly there's no complacency here. We want to keep striving and keep pushing.

"If you start to stand still in professional sport, you're stuffed. It's about keeping on pushing and driving in all areas of the football club."

Image source, Getty Images

Eddie Howe said Dan Burn's latest injury is "a big blow" as he confirmed the defender will be out for several months.

Howe said: "Dan will be out for some time. It another long-term problem. A couple of months is a speculative number for us. He landed on his spine and I think has a problem with the base of it. It’s a huge blow.

"He’s been gigantic for us since he signed for lots of different reasons as I’ve continually said, through his character, his determination to win, his experience and his versatility as well.

"It is not just one position we’re losing, we’re losing his ability to play centre-back as well - but it’s something we have to roll with."

Howe also confirmed fellow left-back Matt Targett is seeing a specialist and is expected to miss three months.

On whether Tino Livramento is up to the standards required for the Champions League, Howe said: "Tino is a very good player. He showed that coming on in a difficult moment on Saturday.

"The game was evenly poised, the atmosphere was red hot and he was playing against a very good opponent. He came on and did very well again. Kieran [Trippier] did really well as well having to switch his position

" We’ll make the decision based on all the information we have. Fingers crossed the back four is unaffected."

Image source, Getty Images

PSG are top of the group as it stands and will be one win away from qualifying if they beat Milan tonight.

Newcastle need a win tonight to leapfrog their German opponents and move back into the top two with two games to spare.

Toight... like a toiger.

Harry De Cosemo
BBC Sport at Signal Iduna Park

Reality bites for Newcastle looking at that team selection, with just 16 senior players to choose from.

Eddie Howe’s frustration was clear in his news conference yesterday as he confirmed Dan Burn and Matt Targett will be out for months after the latest injury blows.

Both Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall are given their first Champions League starts for the club, with Joe Willock starting in attack.

Miguel Almiron and Anthony Gordon are on the bench, with Bournemouth at the weekend.

We had some absolute madness last night at Tottenham Stadium, but Newcastle come into this game with some VAR-themed chaos behind them - not that they really care all that much, as the issue is all Arsenal's!

Mikel Arteta blew his top at the weekend at the technology and officials after his side lost 1-0 at the Magpies, who are sixth in the Premier League table as a result and eyeing up getting back into the top four.

It all points to the continued upward trajectory that the Magpies are on.

Image source, BBC Sport

Borussia Dortmund make three changes to the side that started as they were thrashed 4-0 by Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Niklas Sule, Karim Adeyemi and Felix Nmecha all come in as Marco Reus, Marius Wolf and Donyell Malen drop to the bench.

Dortmund XI: Kobel, Sule, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson, Ozcan, Sabitzer, Nmecha, Brandt, Adeyemi, Fullkrug.

Subs: Meyer, Lotka, Bensebaini, Reyna, Haller, Reus, Wolf, Moukoko, Malen, Blank, Bynoe-Gittens.

Image source, BBC Sport

Newcastle make three changes to the side that started their win over Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday with injured defender Dan Burn replaced by Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento and Joe Willock coming in for Miguel Almiron and Anthony Gordon.

Newcastle XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Lascelles, Hall, Guimaraes, Longstaff, Joelinton, Willock, Livramento, Wilson.

Subs: Dubravka, Karius, Dummett, Gordon, Almiron, De Bolle, Parkinson, Miley

BBC Radio 5 Live

The Atletico Madrid-Celtic game is also on BBC Radio 5 Live this evening as part of a double bill from the Champions League.

The first serving on offer, though, is also the one we'll be bringing you in about an hour's time - Borussia Dortmund v Newcastle.

With Dan Burn out injured, Eddie Howe had a decision to make at left back. Interestingly, both Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento start so it'll be interesting to see who plays where.

Full team news to follow.

The game in Dortmund is the first of two taking place at 17:45 BST this evening - the other being Shakhtar Donetsk's game with Barcelona.

Later, we have six games at 20:00, including Manchester City's home game with Young Boys - the team they beat away in their last Champions League game.

All is going just grand for City, who have maximum points to their name and returned to the top of the Premier League over the weekend courtesy of a 6-1 win.

We'll get to them in good time, though.

Also tonight, Celtic are in Madrid to face Atletico, which you can follow on a separated dedicated live text from our colleagues in Scotland. So watch out for that on the site.

Image source, Getty Images

Yes, it's Newcastle's turn to get off to an early start in the Champions League. And boy it is a big game they have in store.

Competition veterans Borussia Dortmund really pulled the rug from beneath them at St James' Park a couple of weeks ago, with Felix Nmecha's goal the only one of the game.

It meant all that wind pumped into the sails by the huge win over PSG died in an instant.

Never let it be said that Eddie Howe's team are not resilient, though. Since then, they've beaten both Manchester United and Arsenal.

A win in Dortmund this evening and the last 16 suddenly comes into view again.

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle need a result.

Not in the Premier League - in that they're doing just fine thank you very much.

No, where they need a result is in Europe, where Eddie Howe's lads have taken a turn for the worst after a very solid start.

Last time out, they suffered a 1-0 home loss to Borussia Dortmund to leave them third in what is pretty much the toughest group in this season's Champions League.

With a home game against AC Milan and a trip to PSG to come, they can ill afford another loss to the German side tonight.

Time to step up.