Tino Asprilla's hat-trick, Andy Griffin's winner against Juventus, that night in Rotterdam...now it is time for Eddie Howe's side to write their own chapter in the Champions League. After 20 long years, Newcastle United are back at Europe's top table after getting the point they needed against Leicester City at St James' Park on Monday night.
This may well be the most celebrated 0-0 draw in the club's history and the roar that greeted the final whistle will have been heard across the continent. Only the strains of 'Que Sera' from the public address system could drown it out as supporters sang: "Tell me ma, me ma. I won't be home for tea. We're going to Italy!"
Some of the players looked like they wanted to join in. Sean Longstaff told Sky Sports: "I can't put it into words to be honest. If you told a lot of us this was going to happen two years ago, we wouldn't have believed you." Nick Pope said: "It means everything." Kieran Trippier added: "Incredible. Longy, all the lads who are Geordies, have told us all how much it would mean for the club to be in the Champions League."
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How fitting that Alan Shearer and Nolberto Solano, who were part of the last Newcastle side to play in the Champions League, were among those proudly watching on from the stands as the players embarked on a lap of honour. Not so long ago, in a previous era, the pair must have feared these nights were never going to return to St James'. Not anytime soon, anyway.
Yet Newcastle are back at Europe's top table and far from being content with qualifying, which is a remarkable achievement in itself, the ambitious Magpies are going to do all they can to ruffle a few feathers in Europe - just as they have in the Premier League.
"We try and respect every competition," Howe told reporters. "We try and win every game and that will be no different in this competition.
"We will give our all to try and be successful. Otherwise, with all the hard work and effort that has taken to get there, you've wasted an opportunity to try and leave a mark and make a dent in a competition that is an amazing thing to be a part of. We want to be in it as long as we can."
Newcastle may be fourth seeds in the group stages, but none of Europe's elite will want to face this side, knowing that the black-and-whites will only strengthen further this summer as this rebuild enters its next phase. Indeed it said it all that Leicester interim boss Dean Smith dropped his two best players, James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, and changed the way his side set up after watching Newcastle 'steamroll' Brighton, one of the 'best footballing teams' in the top-flight, four nights earlier.
That is the respect Newcastle now command and this may have been the most one-sided goalless draw in recent memory. Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and Bruno Guimaraes all hit the post on a night Newcastle had a whopping 78% possession, 23 shots and 12 corners. Leicester, for context, had just one shot on target yet Newcastle were ultimately indebted to Nick Pope for making that superb save at the death to deny Timothy Castagne against the run of play. It was the goalkeeper's most important stop of the campaign - and that is saying something.
Although Newcastle ultimately got the point they needed to secure their place in the top four in front of their own supporters, this relentless side did not want to settle for that. They were after all three from the outset, but Leicester were not about to make it easy for them.
Leicester may have won just one of their previous 14 Premier League games, conceding 29 goals in the process, but the relegation-threatened Foxes were fighting for their lives and simply had to get a result at St James'. That is why there was no danger of Newcastle underestimating the third worst team in the Premier League.
Yet this was a situation to embrace rather than feel burdened by and the players were given a thunderous welcome by supporters when the teams made their way out. Wor Flags had put together 'one of the most ambitious displays' the fans' group had 'ever done' and it showed with a huge surfer the entire width and height of the East Stand depicting Eddie Howe and his side with the words: ''Hard work pays off. Dreams come true. Bad times don't last but legends do.' Supporters also waved flags in each seat in the Leazes End and the Gallowgate. It was Newcastle's final home game in the Premier League for three months and you could tell as much.
The players quickly fed off that energy, racing out of the blocks once more, but Bruno Guimaraes was a bit too fired up. In fact, the Brazil international was lucky to escape a red card in the ninth minute after his studs landed on Boubakary Soumare's knee. It set the tone for a niggly contest as Leicester set up to stifle and disrupt.
Newcastle were having to be patient to break that blue wall down and the Magpies' first effort on target was Elliot Anderson's curling shot from distance midway through the first half, which Leicester goalkeeper Daniel Iverson comfortably dealt with. Smith had called on his players to be 'harder to beat' and Leicester were certainly that for the majority of the first half.
However, Newcastle started to really pile the pressure on as half-time neared. Callum Wilson hit the post in the 41st minute, before having his follow-up header cleared off the line by Wilfried Ndidi. Then, just a couple of minutes later, it was Miguel Almiron's turn to strike the upright on the volley. Remarkably, there was still time for Wilson to head Trippier's corner over the bar with the scrambling Iverson in no-man's land before referee Andre Marriner finally called time as Newcastle players left the field to applause.
That was the cue for the club's owners, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben, to make their way down pitchside to provide some half-time entertainment. By the time the trio returned to their seats, they were greeted by the sight of a transfer target on the field after James Maddison was introduced at the break by Leicester. However, Leicester's cautious game plan did not suddenly change and Newcastle had to stay patient.
Alexander Isak had a shot tipped over by Iverson in the 59th minute before Howe turned to his bench, throwing on Allan Saint-Maximin for Wilson, as Newcastle turned the screw. The hosts later hit the post for a third time when Bruno's header struck the upright from point-blank range.
Yet it was Leicester who came closest to a breakthrough right at the death when Pope, somehow, denied Castagne. It was a save that secured Newcastle a place in the Champions League. They're off to Italy.
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