Newcastle United unwittingly violated UEFA rules on Monday evening when their first Champions League pre-match news conference was delayed by two hours. Journalists and broadcasters flocked the San Siro all day, but the Magpies’ flight into Milan was delayed due to bad weather in the Italian capital Reported by skysport
Newcastle arrived more later than expected, with Eddie Howe and Sandro Tonali taking their seats in front of the press around 9pm local time, rather than the intended time of 7pm. According to UEFA rules, teams must conduct pre-match media responsibilities between 12pm and 8pm on the day before a match.
However, Newcastle are expected to only receive a warning by UEFA given the delay was out of their control. The north east outfit also informed the European governing body of their intention to train on Tyneside before jetting over to Italy 24 hours before kick-off at the San Siro.
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Howe wanted his players to undergo one final session at the club’s Benton base, rather than getting an early glimpse at the San Siro before the eagerly-awaited clash on Tuesday. Newcastle’s players trained as usual on Monday morning before their travel plans were thrown out of shape.
“The thought of not coming earlier in the day was so we could do our tactical work behind closed doors,” Howe told reporters at the pre-match press conference. “For me, that’s so important, that we get our work done and are able to work because it’s such a small amount of time between games.
“I don’t think it impacted the flight schedule, the weather did that. We wanted to train and prepare for the game, whereas if you train here then that goes out of the window.”
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