Eddie Howe has demanded his underachieving Newcastle players show their quality against the Belgian champions, Union Saint-Gilloise, in Brussels on Wednesday night. “This will be a good challenge at a time in the season when we need to perform,” Howe said. “It will be an important game in our Champions League journey – and a tough one.”
Newcastle’s European campaign began with a home defeat to Barcelona, and a 2-1 loss to Arsenal on Sunday has left them with only one Premier League win. “The Arsenal game should be a motivator not a hangover,” Howe added. “We need to use that as motivation.” The manager refused to update on the knee injury to Tino Livramento but confirmed Fabian Schär has recovered from concussion and is available.
Union SG won the Belgian league 11 times by 1935 but only regained the title in recent years after a 90-year drought, earning their first Champions League group stage appearance. They impressed with a 3-1 win at PSV Eindhoven, where Promise David scored. The club’s rise is linked to Tony Bloom’s 2018 investment; Bloom, the Brighton owner, is now a minority shareholder due to Uefa rules but the data-led scouting system he introduced continues to find talents like goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen and defender Kevin Mac Allister.
Manager Sébastien Pocognoli, a former West Brom and Brighton left-back, led Union SG to the league title in his first season. The match will be played at Anderlecht’s Lotto Park as Union SG’s own ground does not meet Uefa requirements. “We’re ambitious but also realistic,” Pocognoli said. “I expect a very physical match.” He noted Newcastle’s £70m forward Nick Woltemade, who Howe said has made a “strong” start, dismissing criticism from Bayern’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as “irrelevant”.
