Following recent injuries and suspensions, Newcastle United travel to Borussia Dortmund with a depleted squad.
Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy were injured during Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday at St James’ Park, adding to the club’s long injury list.
Sandro Tonali was also recently suspended from playing for ten months for violating Italian betting regulations, and he is still being investigated by the Football Association.
At least 12 first-team players are expected to be ruled out of Tuesday’s Champions League group stage match at Dortmund (5:45pm kick-off), leaving Eddie Howe with a potentially short bench.
This is because players like Matt Ritchie and Emil Krafth, who started last week’s 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Manchester United, are ineligible to play after being left out of Newcastle’s Champions League squad. Mark Gillespie and Javier Manquillo are also absent from the squad but have yet to appear this season.
Howe told The Gazette after leaving four players out of Newcastle’s Champions League squad:
“Very difficult [decisions].” It was a difficult situation for me and the club because we had to leave players out of the squad and we didn’t want to leave anyone out.
“It was a reward for the entire squad last year, and we had to make some difficult decisions due to the Champions League’s rules and regulations.” They weren’t easy conversations to have, but they were necessary.”
Newcastle can name up to 12 players on the bench in Champions League games, but with 12 first-team players out, naming a full bench on Tuesday evening is unlikely.
The Magpies are also missing Sven Botman, Alexander Isak, Matt Targett, Harvey Barnes, and Elliot Anderson in addition to Burn, Murphy, Tonali, Ritchie, Krafth, Manquillo, and Gillespie.
That leaves only 16 senior players available for Tuesday night’s match at Signal Iduna Park, with 17-year-old Lewis Miley likely to be included in the matchday squad.
Newcastle’s previous Champions League away trip to AC Milan featured 16-year-old goalkeeper Aidan Harris on the bench, and United had a relatively clean bill of health at the time.
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