Asprilla comforts a nervous Newcastle

JUST as Newcastle United were contemplating their first goalless draw for nearly 2 1/2 years Faustino Asprilla, the man who cannot score in domestic football but revels on the European nights, snatched two late goals at St James' Park.

A stooping 81st-minute header was followed 60 seconds later by a flick over the advancing Metz goalkeeper and, though both goals were against the run of play, they guarantee Newcastle a place in the quarter-final draw on Friday week.

It is never straightforward with Asprilla, though, and, having been booked for excessive celebration after his opener, the Colombian will be suspended for the next game.

It had been a long time coming for Newcastle, but when Darren Peacock chested down Keith Gillespie's centre and knocked the ball back across goal, Asprilla nodded home from four yards. His second, a nonchalant flick after a daring run, sealed the result, but the scoreline flattered Newcastle. Their performance was as unconvincing as any of late.

A calendar month and five games had passed without Newcastle experiencing victory but Kevin Keegan persisted with his now familiar line-up. In fact it was Metz who made changes with Isaias, the man who felled David Batty, as expected on the bench. Metz also had a different goalkeeper from the first leg, Andre Biancarelli, a 26-year-old Corsican who had played only 10 times for the club.

In a nervous opening from the home side it was almost a quarter of an hour before Biancarelli had to make a serious intervention. For the first 10 minutes the men in rouge, just as Ferencvaros had been in the previous round, were the livelier.

Robbie Elliott was twice exposed early on, by the speed of Robert Pires, then Amara Traore and, once Jocelyn Blanchard had shown clean soles to Peter Beardsley, the Frenchman was able to run 60 yards unchallenged before bringing a back-pedalling tip-over save out of Pavel Srnicek.

It was not the kind of attacking to cause panic, though neither were Newcastle offering more than glimpses of danger them selves. A curling Gillespie centre just eluded the dive of Alan Shearer and a driven Gillespie shot was hacked off the line by Sylvian Kastendeuch.

Speculative shots from Rob Lee and David Ginola followed, but the visitors' swift, incisive breakaways continued to carry the greater promise of a goal. In the 36th minute one should have arrived. Once again Pires found-space behind Elliott and, when his cross swept in from the byline, Phillipe Albert missed his kick; the ball bounced perfectly towards Didier Lang but he put his header over from six yards.

A stinging 30-yard thunderbolt from Pires was then parried over by Srnicek, who wisely did not try to catch it.

At least the half was to end on a comparatively bright note for Newcastle with a typically hungry smash and grab tackle and blast from Shearer. When Asprilla sped by Terrier after the interval, it seemed the Colombian had caught the mood.

However, any optimism caused by that little flurry of activity dissolved abruptly. In the next minute Lee's slack pass from outside his own area went directly to Pires. In a flash Pires had exchanged a one-two with Traore and was bearing down on Srnicek. Having apparently steadied himself, though, and with 35,000 mouths agape, Pires's shot swung into the side-netting.

When, 15 minutes later, Blanchard ran on to another cute Pires through-ball, only to go down as Albert cut across, the crowd was to suffer another heart-stopping moment. The referee raised his arm but, when he pointed, it was to the six-yard box not the penalty spot.

Acutely aware they needed to score to have any chance of progressing, Metz maintained their pressure and it was always intelligent, never reckless. Keegan was even worried enough by the ease with which Pires ran by Elliott that he brought off Ginola and replaced him with a defender, Steve Watson.

Brondby spectacularly knocked Karlsruhe out of the UEFA Cup yesterday after overturning a first-leg defeat to win the away leg 5-0 and qualify for the last eight 6-3 on aggregate. The result was one of the most astonishing of the entire season as Karlsruhe seemed to have the tie won after 77 minutes of the first leg when they led Brondby 3-0 in Denmark.

It was a night to forget for the Germans as Hamburg crashed 2-0 at home to lose 5-0 on aggregate to Monaco. Schalke restored some pride for the Bundesliga when they beat Club Brugge 2-1 to win 3-2 on aggregate.