Gullit relishes torrid reception

Given the events occurring in Kosovo only a couple of hours south of here football, never mind its tendency to lapse into the vocabulary of battle, seems particularly inappropriate at the moment.

But Newcastle United are in Yugoslavia to play a Cup Winners' Cup first-round, second-leg tie, nobody is mentioning the war and Ruud Gullit is expecting a torrid evening in the Stadion Partizan tonight. That, though, is not a situation Gullit fears, it is one he relishes. "The intimidation?" he asks. "I loved it as a player because that is when you get the best out of yourself." Gullit has played a few hundred yards away, at the home of Red Star, for Milan. Alongside Madrid, he recalls it as being one of the most imposing places in which to appear.

Despite scoring 13 goals in four games, Newcastle may not play much football tonight. "The most important thing in a cup tie is to go through," said Gullit, whose priorities in protecting the 2-1 lead from the first leg will be defensive security.

Newcastle would appear to have tightened up at the back during their four-match unbeaten run, but that ignores the fact that Partizan wasted a couple of great openings in the first game and that Nottingham Forest could have scored four last Saturday.

This looks a ready-made occasion for David Batty to play a full 90 minutes in a black-and-white shirt for the first time since the FA Cup final. Batty had only two minutes against Forest but played half of a reserve match on Monday and is fit. So, too, is Steve Watson, who has travelled while his proposed transfer to Everton remains in limbo.

One significant inclusion in the Partizan team is the 18-year-old striker Mateja Kezman, suspended for St James' Park, and the scorer of the winner in the recent Belgrade derby, against Red Star.