THE NOTEBOOK: No redemption for Newcastle keeper Loris Karius, Milan stars don’t warm to St James’… and travelling fans follow Sandro Tonali to Spoons!

• Newcastle 1-2 AC Milan: Toon crash OUT of Europe having led at St James’ Park
• An 84th minute goal from Chukwueze confirmed AC Milan’s Europa League spot 
• Will Marcus Rashford EVER be the real deal? Listen to It’s All Kicking Off

AC Milan substitute Samuel Chukwueze struck a superb late winner to seal a 2-1 victory over Newcastle United as both teams exited the Champions League at St. James’ Park on Wednesday.

At one point on a nerve-jangling climax to Group F, Newcastle were heading for the last 16 as they led through Joelinton’s rasping first-half drive and Paris St Germain trailed in Germany to Borussia Dortmund.

But seven-times champions Milan were far better in the second half as Newcastle ran out of steam and Christian Pulisic equalised on the hour from Olivier Giroud’s pass.

With both sides going for victory, Bruno Guimaraes had a shot tipped on to the crossbar by Milan keeper Mike Maignan before Rafael Leao hit the post at the other end.

Mail Sport’s Craig Hope takes you through the things you might have missed.

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No redemption for keeper Karius

Selfishly, us reporters wanted Loris Karius to play here. We trade in stories and what a tale that would have been, the goalkeeper coming in for his first Champions League appearance since the 2018 final with Liverpool, when two of his errors led to Real Madrid goals in a 3-1 defeat.

Sadly (and please take that in the spirit it is meant) Martin Dubravka recovered from illness and Karius remained on the bench, where he has spent much of the five years since his horror show in Kyiv.

Indeed, his only start in nearly three years has been Newcastle’s Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester United in February.

When it looked like he was set to come in for this mammoth match, you did wonder if Karius had a ‘big game’ clause in his contract!

Goalkeeper Loris Karius remained on the bench after Martin Dubravka recovered from illness

Night to forget for the Toon

This was the first visit of an Italian side to St James’ Park in 21 years.

The last were Milan’s city rivals Inter, who won 4-1 in the same competition. It was a disastrous night for Sir Bobby Robson’s side – they had Craig Bellamy sent off for violent conduct after six minutes and Alan Shearer was later hit with a two-game ban for whacking Fabio Cannavaro in an off-the-ball clash. 

Shearer would play only three more times for Newcastle in the Champions League which, back then, was unthinkable.

Milan stars don’t warm to St. James’

Temperatures dipped to 1C at kick-off. Newcastle had one outfield player in long sleeves. Milan, by comparison, had 10. 

The Italians didn’t fancy training at St. James’ on the eve of the game, either. 

They turned up, took one look at the rainstorm blowing around the stadium and headed straight for the sanctuary of their nearby hotel.

Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes braved the bitter cold in short sleeves, unlike the Milan stars

Seedorf joins the stars

In the latest in our series of Champions League press-box star-spotting (Michael Laudrup in Paris was this season’s highlight) here we had Clarence Seedorf and Gianfranco Zola. 

There is perhaps no player who screams ‘Champions League’ more than four-time winner Seedorf. 

And, to be fair, he looks like he could still play in the competition.

54 and counting

A personal note. It was my dad’s 80th birthday on Wednesday. He was here the night Newcastle won the first leg of their Fairs Cup final against Ujpest Dozsa in 1969. Little did he – nor many of the 60,000 present that night – ever believe it would be another 54 years and counting without a trophy.

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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Fans follow Tonali to Spoons!

Sandro Tonali was in the stands, just as he was earlier in the day when Newcastle’s Under-19s beat Milan 3-1 at Whitley Park.

We can assume the Italian stayed away from the St. James’ Park boardroom, where relations between the respective hierarchies were no doubt tense. Tonali is suspended for 10 months for illegal gambling during his time at Milan, who surprisingly sold their captain and star player to Newcastle in the summer. Did they know the gambling investigation was coming? 

Either way, it looks like Newcastle will have to accept their fate, even though legal avenues are being explored.

Milan’s fans, meanwhile, gathered in a Wetherspoons in the city centre on Wednesday. You wonder if that came on the back of Tonali’s recommendation. He was pictured in the low-cost chain in August, after team-mates told him it was the finest eatery in town. There weren’t so many laughs when his betting ban was confirmed in October.

Newcastle’s £52m midfielder Sandro Tonali was pictured in a local Wetherspoons in a viral social media post

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