I settled into my armchair on Tuesday evening and tuned into the two Champions League quarter-final ties featuring the remaining English clubs, Manchester City and Arsenal.
I’ve never really been one of those strange flag waving football fans who want other English teams to win and do well in Europe.
I couldn’t give a monkeys about certain different permutations and scenarios that could give Newcastle a passport into either the Europa League or the Europa Conference next season.
I most definitely wanted the unpalatable Mikel Arteta and his overrated Arsenal to taste defeat.
There had been the usual mainstream media and radio love-ins going on all day regarding the respective first Leg ties between Real Madrid and Nab City at the Bernabeu, and Arsenal and Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium.
It was a night of some scrappy defending and a few truly spectacular goals.
Man City led Real twice before being pegged back for a 3-3 draw. Their second and third goals by Foden and Gvardiol were both exceptional. Real’s late equaliser by Valverde was also a thing of beauty.
Kevin de Bruyne was unable to start the game due to illness and I now fancy Pep’s boys to finish the job off in the second leg at the Etihad.
Arsenal took an early lead in their Champions League clash against Bayern with a lovely finish by Bukayo Saka, but by half-time trailed 2-1, after who else but Harry Kane had put the Germans ahead from the spot.
Trossard made sure honours stayed even with another crisp execution of his own, deep into the second period.
The Gunners’ frailties and vulnerability in the later stages of top European competitions was exposed once again and I think that they will now lose at the Allianz Arena.
Down in the EFL Championship, automatic promotion challengers Leicester City and Leeds United both failed to win against bottom half opposition.
Leicester went down 1-0 to Neil Harris’ Millwall at the New Den and Leeds were held to a goalless draw at Elland Road in a windswept game against Sunderland.
The mackems seem to play better away from home against some of the better teams in the second tier. I think there are a couple of stand-out reasons for this.
One is that the grounds seem more compactly filled than the Stadium of Light appears to be and so create a better atmosphere than what their players are usually accustomed to.
The other is that Sunderland’s few half decent players are not expected to constantly have to contend with crisp packets, cheese slice wrappers and toilet tissue etc, swirling around the pitch.
On Wednesday, our ‘Group of Death’ nemesis Borussia Dortmund are away to Atletico Madrid in their quarter-final first Leg.
The remaining tie sees the spawny PSG take on Barcelona in Paris. I cannot stand what Barca have become but I would rather they progressed in the competition.
Back in the Championship, Ipswich Town have the chance to go top if they can see off Watford at Portman Road.
It really would be an achievement if the ambitious Tractor Boys could pull off back to back promotions to reach the Premier League.
I can still enjoy a good game of football even when Newcastle United are not in action. I also think that in the near future the Toon will become Champions League regulars.
The thing is though, I still think the old European Cup was far more exciting than this modern Champions League. It’s the same teams in the knockout stages year in year out.
It now seems a lifetime away that the likes of Cloughie’s Nottingham Forest, Hamburg, Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade were the Kings on the continent.
There was romance in the air back then and it was oh so much better than it is now.
It’s going to take Newcastle United to win this flawed competition if I am ever going to resume my Love Affair with it.
Only the Geordies are capable of ‘Bringing on back the good times’ and that was the last record I listened to before getting my napper down.