EDDIE HOWE told Newcastle’s players to summon the spirit of ‘97 and make themselves legends.
Colombian Faustino Asprilla’s hat-trick secured a 3-2 Champions League victory over a star-studded Barcelona side on one of the club’s most famous nights 29 years ago.
Howe could add to his own Toon legacy by becoming the first manager to lead the club into the last eight — but knows it will take the best performance yet to topple five-time winners Barca.
He said: “I don’t care about myself and my record or what people think. It’s for the club. I’m desperate for the club to break new ground and to keep going in this competition having worked so hard to get here.
“We’re all thinking of the club, we’re trying to support the players to give the best performance that we’ve given so far. We’re going to need to break new ground in terms of performance level, so if there’s a time for us to be at our absolute best, it’s in these two games.”
Despite being part of Bournemouth’s playing squad, a then 19-year-old Howe can still remember tuning in to watch Asprilla’s heroics.
And he is desperate for one of his men to produce some similar magic against the LaLiga leaders.
He said: “You couldn’t not watch that game. It was on terrestrial television. It was one of those legendary games. You want people in future years to be talking about this team. Tino Asprilla gets the hat-trick, a couple of them from Keith Gillespie’s delivery on the right. I want our players to be talked about in the same way, 20, 30, 40 years’ later.
“There is a reason it was the best atmosphere, or the so called best atmosphere, and that is because the team played so well, scored three goals, could have scored more, some brilliant attacking for the team and some late goals from Barcelona.
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“That’s why, because the team gave the crowd what it needed. That’s what we have to do. It is all on us. I know the crowd will be there when needed to help us.”
Howe described this as the “biggest game in the club’s history” on Saturday. And wants his underdogs to have no regrets come the final whistle of the second leg next Wednesday at the Camp Nou.
He added: “It’s very much an opportunity to grab a moment that we may never get again. You don’t know what life brings tomorrow let alone future seasons. We don’t want to waste that opportunity and kick ourselves and think ‘what if?’.
“This is a moment for us to try and grab. Since my time here, just over four years, we’ve worked to get to this point. So as long as we perform to our maximum, we’ll have to accept the result but we want to try and get as close as we can to our very best.
“The underdog role, to a degree, in my time here has helped us at times when we’ve been in that position where we feel sort of the odds are stacked against us.
“We’re going to need to use every psychological tool that we can to help us in this game because there’s no denying we’re playing a very, very good team, an outstandingly well-coached and top team.”
