Newcastle United Champions League squad: Eddie Howe will not be able to select four players due to their backs against AC Milan.
As mandated by UEFA, Newcastle United will play their final Champions League group stage match against AC Milan without four more first-team players.
With a severely injured squad, Newcastle will take on Milan at St James’ Park on Wednesday night (8 p.m. kickoff). In spite of this, Eddie Howe has started Newcastle’s last five games across all competitions with the same lineup.
In the final moments of today’s 4-1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur, Matt Ritchie and Emil Krafth were substituted. Howe won’t have that choice on Wednesday night because neither of them is qualified to play in the Champions League.
Four senior players—Ritchie, Krafth, Mark Gillespie, and Javier Manquillo—were left off of Newcastle’s Champions League roster for the group stage games. Martin Dubravka, Sean Longstaff, and Anthony Gordon are all questionable after missing Tuesday’s practice, so The Magpies may start the Milan match with just 16 first-team players.
Howe won’t be able to name the entire bench as a result. Newcastle can use up to 12 substitutes in the Champions League, but on Wednesday night, they will need to rely as much as possible on their Under-21 players to bolster it.
Champions League squad rules
There are no restrictions on the number of players who can be named in the squad for the Champions League. Clubs are then required to name up to eight additional homegrown players in their squad.
To name a complete squad of 25, at least four of the eight homegrown players need to be club-trained. A club’s squad sizes will be lowered in accordance with its inability to meet its player quotas, whether they are club-trained or homegrown.
While players like Tino Livramento and Hall who were born on or after January 1, 2002, are not required to be on the 25-man roster in order to play in the Premier League, they must be on the rosters for the Champions League.
As a result, players born on or after January 1, 2002, who have been eligible to play for the club in question for an uninterrupted period of at least two years or three years including a one-year loan spell, must be included in a second list, known as “List B,” which must be submitted to UEFA. While more recent Under-21s signings like Amadou Diallo and Alex Murphy, who have both recently appeared in the Premier League, cannot be included, players like Lewis Miley fit into this category.
Players can name as many players as they want on “List B,” and in order to be eligible to play, their names must be submitted by midnight on the day before the match. Only three first-team players at Newcastle have club training: Elliot Anderson,Paul Dummett and Sean Longstaff, which limited them to selecting a “List A” team of no more than 24 players, or 23 players if Anderson was included in “List B.”
Howe told The Gazette that the four players were left out of Newcastle’s Champions League roster, calling the decision-making process “very difficult.” Being in a situation where we had to leave players off the squad because we didn’t want to leave anyone out was really tough for me and the club.
“We had to make some really difficult decisions because of the rules and regulations that the Champions League put in place, but it was a reward for the entire squad last year.” Although they weren’t pleasant talks, I had to have them.”
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