NEWCASTLE 3 LEVERKUSEN 1: Shearer's king of the hill but Toon still have a mountain to climb
Two successive Champions League wins against Group A whipping boys Bayer Leverkusen have given Newcastle an outside chance of progressing to the last eight but as Sir Bobby Robson conceded last night, after Alan Shearer plundered the 15th hat-trick of his amazing career, the hard work starts now.
Realistically, Newcastle must win at the San Siro in a fortnight's time because a draw against Inter Milan would leave United needing to beat Barcelona in their final group game, and they would still have to rely on Leverkusen holding the Italians to a draw at the BayArena in their concluding clash. On the evidence of the Toon's last two encounters with the hapless Germans, that simply ain't gonna happen.
Another possible scenario is that if Newcastle triumph in Milan a draw against Barcelona, who will secure qualification if they beat Leverkusen in two week's time, might be enough to see Sir Bobby's boys through - depending on how many goals they beat Inter by, and how many goals the Italians put past their German opponents in their final game. Complicated stuff, eh?
Which is why the Newcastle manager is targeting six points from their last two matches against the two group giants and, whilst it looks a monumental task, it's a challenge Sir Bobby says his players will meet head on. They are certainly playing with supreme confidence at the moment and the Italians will not rest easily in their beds over the next couple of weeks.
After last night's second successive 3-1 win over Leverkusen, Robson said: "There's a sense of belief that we won't be afraid in Inter and we'll look forward to it. We'll go with a lot of confidence that we can win. We need to win both, and then we will qualify. We need something in Milan and we obviously have to beat Barcelona at home.
"So we're going to go to Inter Milan, where we know if we don't get something from it, it won't be good enough, so at least there's a fighting spirit in the situation and we know what we have to do. Like tonight, we knew that a point would not be good enough and we went out to win. We've done it. The job was to do the job - we did the job. It's great. I'd have settled for that before the game."
Last night's game, as was the case in Germany a week ago, was effectively over and out of Leverkusen's reach by half time - after just 36 minutes, in fact. That was how long it took Super Al to register his first Champions League hat-trick, his initial strike, incredibly, being the first goal he had scored from open play in the competition, with either Blackburn or Newcastle.
Shearer opened the scoring after just five minutes with a diving header from a pin-point Gary Speed cross, nodded home his second six minutes later after more woeful defending from Cris and completed his 31-minute treble from the penalty spot in time-honoured, ruthless fashion.
He was naturally delighted to break his Champions League duck more was more concerned with the task which lies ahead and he said: "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb in the first stage when we lost our first three games. We lost our first two in the second stage - but now we have got two wins we won't give it up! We were determined to give ourselves a chance going to Milan - and we have done that, although there's still another mountain to climb."
Shearer's goals took his tally to 21 for the season and Sir Bobby said: "If you get crosses into Shearer then the ball will end up in the back of the net. Shay Given's penalty save was crucial - but I wanted Alan to score a fourth so I could substitute him earlier." Shearer actually missed the easiest chance of the night to claim his fourth but he was monumental on his return to the European scene after missing last week's win through suspension.
Newcastle won the game inside the first 36 minutes at Saint James' Park, or rather Alan Shearer did with a clinical hat-trick made up of two headers and a penalty conversion - an emphatic way to banish his disappointment at missing the previous two games because of suspension.
For match day seven, Robson will be further boosted by the return from suspension of Shearer's main partner Craig Bellamy, who completed his three-match ban last night, but the Welshman's stand-in once again turned in an impressive performance and gave the manager plenty to ponder over the next two weeks. Most of the praise was reserved for main man Shearer though and Titus Bramble said: "Alan showed again what a great player he is.
"The hat-trick is no more than he deserves after all the hard work he has put in for the side in Europe this season. It must have been frustrating for him to miss two games through suspension but he has come straight back into the side and got the goals which won us the game. It's difficult to believe they were his first goals from open play in the Champions League, but he has well and truly ended that record now, so people can stop talking about it."
The final word from Shearer himself on Newcastle's chances of reaching the quarter finals and maybe going beyond. "Who knows? But we certainly will not give it up - that's for sure. We were determined to give ourselves a chance going to Inter Milan and that's what we have done." Victory at the San Siro would rank up there among the very best - even United's in Turin the other night.
