(1) Milan vs Newcastle: Champions League – live – The Guardian

5 minutes: Murphy pushes through the middle to encourage Newcastle to attack. Gordon finds Trippier on the right. Trippier comes in looking for Isak. Tomori heads clearly.

4 minutes: Leao moves in from the left and hits the first shot furiously. Straight to Pope and easy for the goalkeeper.

3 minutes: Loftus-Cheek breaks through down the right and wins a throw deep in Newcastle territory. Baby steps for Milan after 5-1 humiliation at the hands of Inter.

2 minutes: Milan spends the opening moments stroking his back, “Our House, Our Rules” style.

Newcastle gets the ball rolling. “Hello Scott, I hope you’re well!” begins a cheerful Chris Paraskevas. “If you had told me a few years ago that Jacob Murphy would be starting in a Champions League game at the San Siro, I would have asked you which edition of Football Manager you were playing. After a lifetime of waking up at unnatural hours to watch ourselves get knocked out of the League Cup, it’s amazing to see a̶̶̶c̶̶̶t̶̶̶u̶̶̶a̶̶̶l̶̶̶l̶̶̶y̶̶̶ ̶b̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶a̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶t̶ ̶̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶S̶̶̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶ ̶S̶̶̶i̶̶̶r̶̶̶o̶̶̶ have the privilege of waking up at 2am on a Wednesday for a European “night out”. What a time to be alive.”

A minute’s silence in memory of those who lost their lives in the recent tragedies in Morocco and Libya. “We are at your side,” reads a UEFA banner.

The teams are out! AC Milan will not be called the Rossoneri for now, while Newcastle will wear their equally famous black and white stripes. We head out after shaking hands and a quick play of the UEFA-approved 12-inch remix of Zadok the Priest. Meanwhile, Joe Pearson wonders how wise it was for Eddie Howe to refer to “the guys with experience… like Loris Karius”?

Updated at 17.52 BST

Eddie Howe speaks to TNT Sport. “We’re looking forward to it… it’s already loud in the stadium and it’s not even half full yet, so we know it’s going to be a big challenge that we can hopefully rise to… the experienced guys will be crucial for us… If you work hard to achieve this, we don’t want to waste it… It will be a joy for us if we do our best… Our fans deserve this and we want to make them proud.”

It’s been a while but Newcastle have done something like this before. Here’s some visual evidence of how the Toon thrived on the European stage, including a snapshot of Scott Parker’s pure joy at becoming winners of the 2006 Intertoto Cup.

Milan make three changes after their 5-1 defeat to Internazionale in Serie A. Samu Chukwueze, Fikayo Tomori and Tommaso Pobega take the places of Tijjani Reijnders, Simon Kjær and Christian Pulišić, who all drop to the bench.

Newcastle also make three changes to their starting lineup following their 1-0 win over Brentford. Sandro Tonali, Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak perform, while Callum Wilson, Elliot Anderson and Harvey Barnes take their seats. Tonali achieves what we must contractually describe as “a dream return to his former club”.

Updated 17.03 BST

The teams

AC Milan: Maignan, Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Hernandez, Loftus-Cheek, Krunic, Pobega, Chukwueze, Giroud, Leao.
Substitutes: Adli, Pulisic, Reijnders, Jovic, Okafor, Kjaer, Florenzi, Sportiello, Musah, Mirante, Bartesaghi.

Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Tonali, Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Substitutes: Dummett, Lascelles, Wilson, Targett, Barnes, Karius, Hall, Livramento, Almiron, Anderson, Miley, Harris.

Referee: Jose Maria Sanchez (Spain).

preamble

Newcastle United immediately became interested in European football. After qualifying for the 1968–69 edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by finishing tenth in the old First Division (don’t ask), they skillfully seized the opportunity, beating Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Real Zaragoza, Vitoria de Setubal and the Rangers and Ujpest to lift continental silver medals straight away. Not bad, especially considering Feyenoord would win the European Cup the following season. Hats off to Bobby Moncur, Frank Clark, Pop Robson and others!

Today’s boys could use a similar level of contact with the ground. This is Newcastle’s first trip to the Champions League in 20 years and they find themselves in a group with French champions Paris Saint-Germain, Bundesliga bridesmaids Borussia Dortmund and last year’s semi-finalists, seven-time winners Milan. First stop: the San Siro. Then that’s not a problem. “It’s a football game and I think that’s exactly how we have to approach it,” says Eddie Howe, who will no doubt point out to his players Milan’s 5-1 capitulation at arch-rivals Inter at the weekend, rather than their own 4-1 -Victory over Torino in the only game so far this season at San Siro. Which Milan will be there? The Toon will be hoping it’s the former, and we’ll start finding out at 5:45pm BST. It’s on!