The 6ft 7in defender has opened up on the desire to get a result for Eddie Howe during the 2-1 win over the Red Devils
Newcastle United's Dan Burn
Newcastle United's Dan Burn
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Dan Burn admits that taking part in Newcastle United's unprecedented run of elite fixtures is allowing him to live the dream at St James' Park.
For the first time ever, Newcastle go into March still involved in the Champions League, FA Cup and the Premier League's race for Europe.
The Blyth battler, and boyhood Newcastle fan, grew up watching the intense rivalry between Sir Bobby Robson's Magpies and Sir Alex Ferguson's Man United. And as a season ticket holder he dreamed of the day that he would play against Barcelona in a black-and-white shirt, just like in the Champions League games he watched in 2002/03 a a kid.
Fresh from beating Man United, Newcastle now head into the clash with Man City in the FA Cup before the first of two dates with Barcelona. Then it's off to Chelsea, the Nou Camp and the big Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland.
Burn said: "This is why you want to be a footballer, these are the games that you dream of when you're playing.
"It just seems that we've got them all in a row, so it's going to be an exciting couple of weeks, but one that we're prepared for.
"We believe that we can get results in those games. We've beaten City at St. James' before.
"I thought we gave Barcelona a really good game. So yeah, we’re looking forward to it.
"We've got a lot of games and we have played a lot of games this season, but we're excited."
But things could have unfolded differently for Newcastle as they found themselves a man down against Man United following Jacob Ramsey's sending off for two yellow cards after being accused of diving.
Burn said Newcastle stars rallied at half-time knowing that head coach Eddie Howe needed a result, he said: "I think we spoke about it at half-time and said we could sort of make this one of the best results we've had in sort of the gaffer's tenure here.
"And to a man, I thought we were brilliant. I think we’ve shown that resilience, which we haven't shown as much as we would have liked to in the previous weeks.
"And obviously buzzing that Will Osula comes on and scores an absolute worldy!"
Burn also made it clear as a boyhood Newcastle fan beating Man United is important to the supporters, with the fact Newcastle blew a 12-point lead in 1996 still something that is spoken about on a frequent basis on Tyneside by fans of that era.
The England defender said: "I don't know if it’s just me personally, a Newcastle fan, I don't particularly like Man United.
"So it's nice to win and always nice to beat them. Obviously, they're doing so well at the minute as well, so it's a very good result for us."
Both Burn and super sub William Osula will hope to take this form into Saturday's cup tie with Man City. Speaking on Osula's big moment, Burn said: "He was practicing that in training yesterday, cutting in both sides and whipping it, and I know he's got that quality.
"So it was nice that he could pull it off on such a special night. And I think that's probably the quickest I’ve run all season trying to run to celebrate with him as well!"