The moment has finally come for Newcastle United fans and the Champions League.

It has taken eight months of the season and now into April 2026, before we see a round of matches in the competition taking place without NUFC.

Tuesday and Wednesday sees the Champions League quarter-final first legs taking place.

Real Madrid v Bayern Munich and Sporting Lisbon v Arsenal tonight, then Barcelona v Atletico Madrid and PSG v Liverpool tomorrow.

What might have been…

As they say though, better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Just look at Sunderland.

The shortest book ever written, Sunderland in Europe.

The Mackems experiencing two European ties, four matches, 53 years ago. That is it.

To put it into perspective, Middlesbrough have played 25 matches in European competitions in the history of their football club.

For Newcastle United, it is now up to 152 European competitive matches, thanks to the 12 Champions League games this season.

I have seen some Newcastle fans rather bizarrely claim that it has all been a waste of time as we were never going to win the Champions League this season. Really?

In that case, why bother entering any...