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Eddie Howe has told his Newcastle players they have to believe they can top their Champions League group after being pitched into battle with three of Europe’s giants. The Magpies, who will play in the competition for the first time in 20 years this season, will face French champions Paris St Germain, seven-times winners AC Milan and 1997 champions Borussia Dortmund as they attempt to reach the last 16. Nevertheless, TV pundit Owen Hargreaves, a Champions League winner with both Bayern Munich and Manchester United, insisted after the draw the Magpies could emerge from Group F as winners “if they get it right”. Howe said: “You have to believe that, yes. I’m not necessarily sure that should be the expectation, but I think we can. “I’ll let other people talk about what can and can’t happen. All I’m really focused on is what we can do internally, and that’s be our best. “Going back to the Liverpool game, for a long part of that game, I thought we were really, really good and you can still lose the game against high-quality opposition if you switch off for a couple of moments like we did, so we’re going to be feeling those effects again against elite teams. “We’re going to have to be concentrated and at our best right through the game to win.” Howe watched Thursday evening’s draw, which handed summer signing Sandro Tonali a return to former club Milan, with his staff and while there was a realism in their reaction, there was excitement too. Asked what their response had been, the 45-year-old said with a smile: “There was a bit of silence… for about an hour. No, there was silence for about 10 seconds.” He added: “When the dust settles down, you look at it with pure excitement, really. There’s no negativity from any of us internally towards the draw. “When you add it all together, I think it’s been a great thing.” For all the understandable excitement on Tyneside, Howe will push the Champions League to the back of his mind in the short term at least with important Premier League fixtures to come at Brighton on Saturday and then against Brentford at St James’ Park after the international break before the Magpies launch their European adventure. He said: “I don’t want to dampen it down, but the Premier League is huge for us and we still have games before the Champions League starts, so the Champions League will only really come into my focus when it’s our next game.” Defender Sven Botman is a doubt for the trip to the Amex Stadium having undergone a scan on the ankle he damaged during last weekend’s 2-1 defeat by Liverpool, as is midfielder Joelinton with a knee problem. Meanwhile, Howe has admitted his players may need to stay away from Newcastle city centre late at night after club captain Jamaal Lascelles was caught up in a violent incident in which he appeared to be acting as peacemaker. He said: “It would be nice in theory for us to be in the city centre with our people, but the reality is it’s probably not the best place for us to exist late at night.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live I love this team: Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool’s new midfield is ‘good business’ Manchester City sign Matheus Nunes from Wolves for £53million Chelsea and Manchester United kick off deadline-day moves

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp loves his reinvented midfield and believes the club have done good business this summer. The £35million signing of Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch, with the deal expected to be finalised before the deadline after the 21-year-old flew to Merseyside for his medical on Thursday, will complete a total rejuvenation of the Reds’ engine room. Klopp was always planning to revamp his midfield this summer but even he did not expect to change the whole unit, only for the departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabia to force him into a radical overhaul. Argentina’s World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister and RB Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai were early arrivals as part of the planned revamp, but the addition of Wataru Endo and Gravenberch, who was a long-term target but was considered unavailable, came much later than expected after Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia both turned them down for a move to Chelsea. “We pretty much had to reinvent the team. The midfield is all ready and will be completely new,” he said. “We had to do that in a season where we didn’t qualify for the Champions League, which has a massive impact. “I know people expect it to be different but it is how it is. I really think we did good business, the players we brought in are really good, will help the team. “We are less experienced but that is normal, but we are full of desire and I love this team.” Mac Allister, who was initially asked to play an unfamiliar holding role, and Szoboszlai have both settled in quickly, which was to be expected as they had a full pre-season to adapt to Klopp’s methods. The manager expects them to make bigger strikes, although he conceded Endo will take longer after only arriving from Stuttgart mid-August, but believes they have the capability to match the successes of the players they have replaced. “The natural skill-set is obvious but we had to replace the most successful midfield in the young (recent) history of this club,” added Klopp ahead of Sunday’s visit of Aston Villa. “Fabinho, Henderson, Milner, Gini Wijnaldum a few years ago. All had big parts in the team. Naby (Keita), (Alex) Oxlade-Chamberlain, they all played big parts in that midfield. “In our best periods I remember you asked me the question if we had enough of a goal threat from this midfield when we scored all the goals from the front line. “I think we have much more goal threat in midfield now but the work-rate these guys put in, the stability they gave us was second-to-none and that is what we have to create as well. “We will see how we do that because we can play different systems, we have to think about that during the season definitely. “But I think it is clear the players we brought in have real quality, are young and in a super way really excited about the opportunity of being here, so that’s a cool mix.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Manchester City sign Matheus Nunes from Wolves for £53million Chelsea and Manchester United kick off deadline-day moves England Under-21s look to new blood in wake of victorious Euro 2023 campaign

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Manchester City signed Portugal midfielder Matheus Nunes from Wolves in a £53 million ($67 million) deal ahead...