It was good while it lasted but Newcastle’s European odyssey is over. On a night of wildly oscillating emotions on Tyneside Samuel Chukwueze stepped off the Milan substitutes bench and promptly scored with his first touch to send the Serie A side into the Europa League as Eddie Howe’s horizons contracted.
The reality that there will be no more midweek trips to the continent, at least this season, for Howe’s ultimately exhausted players came as a nasty shock to disconsolate Newcastle fans at the end of an evening Milan spent largely on the back foot being bullied by the initially excellent Joelinton and co.
