NEWCASTLE, England, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Newcastle United took their place in the last 16 knockout stage of the Champions League after beating Qarabag 3-2 at St. James' Park on Tuesday for a 9-3 on aggregate win.
The outcome was never in doubt after Newcastle thrashed Qarabag 6-1 in the first leg of the playoff in Baku last week but expectations of a second goal rush proved short-lived after a promising start.
Newcastle were 2-0 up with the fans in full party mode after six minutes, the two goals coming in the space of 80 seconds from Sandro Tonali in the fourth minute and Joelinton on the volley in the sixth.
Unlike in Baku, where Newcastle were already 5-0 up at half-time, the Magpies then eased off and allowed Qarabag back into the match as the expected second leg thrashing failed to materialise.
Camilo Duran pulled a goal back for the visitors in the 50th but Newcastle responded instantly with Sven Botman scoring his first Champions League goal two minutes later off a header from a Kieran Trippier corner.
Manager Eddie Howe brought Anthony Gordon, the four-goal hero from the first leg, off the bench in the 54th minute in place of Joelinton with the score at 3-1, but the change had little impact.
The scoreline became 3-2 three minutes later when Elvin Jafarguliyev scored with a left-footed shot after Aaron Ramsdale had saved a penalty from Marko Jankovic following a Dan Burn handball.
"At 2-0 we probably came off the pedal, we didn't intend to do that but that was the natural reaction" said Howe.
"I think if you look at the score over the two legs, it's been fantastic from the players although today feels a bit of a hollow win for us."
Newcastle will now play Barcelona or Chelsea in the knockout stage, two teams they have played recently, with the draw made on Friday.
Barcelona won 2-1 at St James' in the Champions League last September while Chelsea took a 2-2 draw from their Premier League visit in December.
"We really enjoyed the game against Barcelona and we had a good game against Chelsea here as well. We didn't win either so hopefully that's a good omen for us," said Howe, who said reaching the knockout stage had been the target at the start of the season.
Tuesday was the first time Newcastle had won six matches in a single Champions League campaign.
It will be their first time in the knockout stage, although in 2003 they reached what was then a 16 club second group phase.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
