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Let's face it, for those of us who follow Newcastle United, the last largely miserable 10 years have given us very little to shout about.

That said, it doesn’t need to be like this, and it hasn’t always been like this.

Given ambition and backing, the Magpies have dined at football’s top table - and it wasn’t all that long ago.

On this day in 2002 - 15 years ago - Newcastle United were playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp in the Champions’ League, in the second stage of the competition.

Imagine that!

The game against the Spanish giants came three years into Sir Bobby’s Robson’s managerial reign, and it was United’s second involvement in European football’s elite competition.

The first, five years earlier, had seen THAT game at St James’ Park when a Tino Asprilla hat-trick sunk Barcelona 3-2 in the well-documented encounter.

The 2003 Barca included the likes of Patrick Kluivert, later to play briefly for the Toon, and a young Carlos Puyol and Xavi.

As for United, Sir Bobby had created a side bristling with power, pace and skill.

Shearer, Bellamy, Speed, Robert, Solano and co were a match for anybody on their day, and the team earned consecutive 4th, 3rd, and 5th place Premier League finishes in the early 2000s.

But if the Magpies had already taken the scalps of Juventus, Feyenoord, and Dynamo Kiev in Europe, they found Barca a tougher nut to crack this time around.

The first game, postponed because of excessive rain in Spain, was rescheduled for 15 years ago tonight.

Dani opened the scoring for the Catalans, before Shola Ameobi silenced the Nou Camp with a 24th minute leveller.

The class of Barcelona was to tell, however, with further goals from Kluivert and Thiago Motta seeing of the Toon.

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Beaten but not bowed, we still had four Champions’ League games to savour, and there would be a third-place finish in the Premier League.

We just didn’t realise how good we had it...