As the final whistle blew, cementing a season of overachievement, Newcastle United’s fans were singing a version of a favourite chant, with the lyrics customised as their horizons broadened. “Tell me ma” often contains the assertion that “we’re going to Wembley,” even if the Carabao Cup final was actually Newcastle’s first trip to the national stadium in the 21st century. But as Nick Pope’s late save secured a draw against Leicester to clinch a top-four finish, the destination was changed. “We’re going to Italy,” they chorused; sooner than they thought, perhaps. Newcastle’s first Champions League game in two decades is at San Siro, against the seven-time champions of the continent, AC Milan. It does not necessarily render them underdogs: not when Newcastle had the financial muscle to sign Sandro Tonali, the Rossoneri fan who was seen as future club captain, this summer. The picture can be clouded both on and off the pitch: Stefano Pioli’s team were Champions League semi-finalists last season but lost the Milan derby 5-1 to Inter on Saturday. With Newcastle, the footballing feats came after the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The morality of the ownership can be questioned. The money has helped, with around £400m committed in transfer fees. It meant they ended up funding Milan’s summer rebuilding – selling Tonali in effect paid for the purchases of Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah – but if Newcastle have still had to be bargain hunters, that is the Rossoneri’s role now. With the days of Silvio Berlusconi’s largesse consigned to the past, Milan mirrored Newcastle in one respect last season: they confounded expectations to get into the top four, but of the Champions League. But for a fanbase deprived of any continental trips since Alan Pardew’s Newcastle reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League in 2013, a 20-year wait to return to the major competition is tantalising. Newcastle supporters are renowned for travelling in their numbers, but it was notable that Milan hotel prices skyrocketed for Tuesday: anyone booking late would have had to pay at least £400 a night. The iconic San Siro has a symbolic significance that stretches beyond its architecture. Newcastle’s last Champions League away game – excluding a play-off against Partizan Belgrade that they lost on penalties at home – was in Milan, a 2-2 draw against Inter in 2003. Alan Shearer scored twice; Newcastle’s record goalscorer is now 53 and narrating Amazon documentaries about the modern side. When, about three-quarters of an hour after the final whistle blew in the 0-0 draw against Leicester, Eddie Howe was asked about his memories of Newcastle’s Champions League past, he was a little hazy. A focus on the present meant he had not spent much time studying the history. He recalled Tino Asprilla’s hat-trick against Barcelona in 1997 but not Craig Bellamy’s injury-time winner against Feyenoord in 2002 when, after Newcastle had lost their first three group games, they won the last three to progress. There was often a romance to Newcastle in the Champions League. There has been to Howe’s rise, too. He took charge of a Bournemouth team 91st in the Football League and suffering from a 17-point deduction. He had more reason to watch non-league than Champions League games then. His 625th match as a manager will be his first in Europe. There is no soft baptism. Newcastle’s continental exile meant they were in pot four for the draw; to compound their difficulties, they were pitted against arguably the finest team, and definitely the most storied club, in pot three, in AC Milan. Factor in Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund and looks the toughest and perhaps most intriguing group, a four-team rebuttal to the theory the first stage is just a procession. Even as Newcastle look to become regulars on this stage, they could be cast aside before Christmas this season. Newcastle have the Premier League’s fiscal might and the ambition. They lack the experience and Champions League nous. Kieran Trippier played in the final for Tottenham and Bruno Guimaraes bullishly declared last season: “I was born to play Champions League”. But the Brazilian is one of a number of players – including Alexander Isak, Sven Botman, Joelinton and Harvey Barnes – with a handful of appearances in the competition. Many another – Nick Pope, Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock, Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson and Anthony Gordon – has never featured in it. Dan Burn’s Champions League pedigree consists of being in the crowd as a season ticket-holder when Andy Griffin scored a winner for Bobby Robson’s side against Juventus. There are personal success stories at a club who have taken on a different hue. Newcastle stand for different things to different people. For the thousands in San Siro, however, they are a club who are back. Read More Manchester United are a mess — and it could be about to get even worse From ‘unpromotable’ to the Champions League: Union Berlin fairytale is perfect antidote to modern football UEFA Champions League 2023/24 schedule - every game in the group stage How the Champions League lost its spark and led to the end of an era Why are Saudi Arabia playing at Newcastle’s St James’ Park?

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Many woke up dazed in the Ukraine’s Hroza on Friday – with the village in the northeast of the country having lost a fifth of residents in the devastation caused by a Russian missile strike the previous day. Ihor Klymenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has said the village only had 330 residents – and that at least 52 had been killed in the assault. He added that every family had at least one person they knew at the wake for Ukrainian soldier Andrii Kozyr inside the cafe (and grocery shop) that was wrecked by the missile. That wake followed a funeral that had been an attempt to rebury a father who had been killed in Russian-occupied territory last year. Now candles mark the spot where the lives of those mourners were lost. Residents have said that the cafe, Hrozivske, had been closed for much of the time since Russia’s invasion began in February last year, and that the wake had marked one of the first major events of its reopening. The strike that followed is one of the deadliest of the war. Alina, 23 – who only wanted to be known by her first name – moved to the village after marrying a local three years ago. Alina says herself and her husband were due to be at the memorial, but their car engine faltered and they couldn’t make it in time. “We were meant to be there. We were meant to be dead,” she says. Now all she feels is anger at the missile strike. “They were just normal people living a normal life,” she says of those who died. “Most of them were farmers, working with wheat and barley.” The village, in the Kharkiv region, was founded in 1922, and its name translates as “thunderstorm”. It was first occupied by Russian forces in February 2022 and was liberated by Ukrainian forces that September. Alina says that when the village was occupied by Moscow’s forces, mostly older people stayed behind as the younger residents fled. When the village was due to celebrate its centennial anniversary last year, she says that residents spent the time hiding in their cellars. “We felt enormous joy when Russian forces left,” she continues. “It was great to be Ukraine again. [Now] I have no words for what’s happened.” Hroza had 501 inhabitants before the invasion according to local journalist Iryna Antoniuk, who is a correspondent with the My-Ukraina [We Are Ukraine] TV Channel. She says that half of the 300 or so who remained in the village had been in attendance at the wake. In a morning visit to the village, less than 24 hours after the attack Ms Antoniuk says “you can still smell the blood” among the wreckage. “It’s a tiny little village,” says Ms Antoniuk. “This building that was hit, was in the very centre, so it’s so noticeable. Immediately, when you enter the village, you notice it. People have started bringing flowers now to pay tribute.” Workers at the local cemetery cut down trees and mowed grass to prepare graves for those killed. They are to be buried not far from the soldier Kozyr, whose wake they were attending. Residents also gathered to mourn in groups in the village centre, which was largely deserted except for people picking up humanitarian aid, including materials to repair their damaged houses. Dr Robert Dale, Senior Lecturer of Russian History at Newcastle University says: “Hroza... has seen much bombardment during the Russian offensive. “This is a location that as a borderland area has long been a site of conflict, and at the sharp end of wars. The Kharkiv region suffered very badly in the ‘Russian’ Civil War, the Holodomor, and the area changed hands repeatedly in the Second World War... Perhaps one reason for why Hroza seems to have so little recorded history is that these rural regions have been ravaged throughout the twentieth century.” He added: “The Kharkiv region’s proximity to the Russian border means that it has born much of the brunt of... this conflict.” The Hroza victims made up most of the 54 civilians killed in the country over the previous 24 hours, Ukraine's presidential office said Friday. The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the attack. In a sign of the continuing assault Ukrainians face in the Kharkiv region. On Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said another two Russian missiles had killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in the city of Kharkiv itself. Emergency crews pulled the boy's body from the rubble of a building. He was wearing pyjamas with a Spider Man design. The strike also killed the boy's grandmother and wounded an 11-month-old child, the interior minister Klymenko said. The regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said that in all, 30 people were wounded. Rescue operations were continuing. Officials said preliminary information indicated that the Kremlin's forces used two Iskander missiles in the attack, the same as in the strike on Hroza. The attack may have only lasted seconds, but Alina says she will feel the hurt for a long time. “I knew every single person that has died. They were our buddies, our friends, our family and neighbours,” she says. Read More Nobel Peace Prize awarded to jailed Iranian women’s rights ‘freedom fighter’ Narges Mohammadi Ukraine-Russia war – live: Latest missile strike by Putin’s forces kills boy and his grandmother in Kharkiv Berlin exists on the border of freedom and chaos – it’s why I keep coming back