Alex Murphy (l) and Park Seung-soo of Newcastle United look on during training ahead of their UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off Second Leg match against Qarabag FK at Newcastle United Training Centre on February 23, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)placeholder image
Alex Murphy (l) and Park Seung-soo of Newcastle United look on during training ahead of their UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off Second Leg match against Qarabag FK at Newcastle United Training Centre on February 23, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images
UEFA rules block Newcastle United 18-year-old from making Champions League debut versus Qarabag.
Eddie Howe is considering making changes to his Newcastle United starting XI for tonight’s Champions League play-off second-leg clash at home to Qarabag.
The Magpies lead the tie 6-1 following their huge victory in Azerbaijan last Wednesday. Anthony Gordon scored four goals while Malick Thiaw and Jacob Murphy were on target in either half.
With one foot in the last 16, where United would face either Chelsea or Barcelona, Howe has vowed to play a strong team but did hint at changes with Saturday’s important Premier League clash against Everton to consider.
“I think we'll look at the squad and try and pick a strong team,” Howe said at his pre-match press conference. “We want to win the game, so that's the first target, is to win. And in some senses, we want to keep a good rhythm with the players.
“I think it's a really delicate balance we've got between rotating the squad and making sure everyone's fresh to winning the game and also making sure players don't lose rhythm and we don't lose the good feeling that we've had.
“I'll try and pick the right team, taking all the information into consideration that we have.”
Newcastle United injury news v Qarabag
Newcastle remain light on bodies in defence, with Malick Thiaw forced to serve a one-match ban tonight after picking up his third Champions League yellow card of the campaign in the first-leg last week.
Tino Livramento, Emil Krafth and Fabian Schar are ruled out through injury but Howe hopes to be boosted by the return of Sven Botman after he was spotted in training yesterday following three matches out with a back issue.
Howe’s side are also stretched in midfield with captain Bruno Guimaraes currently in Brazil recovering from a hamstring injury, while Lewis Miley might not return until the FA Cup fifth round tie at home to Manchester City on March 7.
In attack, Yoane Wissa is pushing for a start against Qarabag after he resumed full training on Monday. He too has missed the last three games due to a “nasty knock”.
Newcastle United under-21s trio on standby - but one blocked from playing
Eighteen-year-old striker Sean Neave made his Champions League debut as a late substitute in Baku last week, and both Alex Murphy and Leo Shahar will hope to follow in his footsteps this evening.
Neave, Murphy and Shahar have been regulars on the first-team bench this campaign and will again be tonight after training with the senior group on Monday.
Another youngster to receive the training call-up was Seung-soo Park, who arrived from K-League side Suwon Samsung Bluewings last summer before catching the club’s eye during its pre-season tour of Singapore and South Korea.
The 18-year-old was named on the bench for the Premier League opener away to Aston Villa in August and was again in the squad for the FA Cup fourth round win at Villa Park 10 days ago.
However, Park is ineligible to feature in this season’s Champions League as he has not been included in the club’s ‘List A’ squad and is ineligible to be named in the ‘List B’ squad.
To be eligible for the ‘List B’ squad, players must have been born on or after January 1, 2004 and played for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years.
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