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Rafa Benitez is revelling in the euphoria sweeping across Tyneside right now - but is refusing to let his players lose focus on the task at hand.

The Newcastle United boss has encouraged supporters to continue enjoying the team’s on-field success yet he is aiming to keep his players as grounded as possible despite their impressive five-game winning streak.

Instead, Benitez wants to ensure his squad do not distracted and instead that they concentrate fully on the next game - namely, Queens Park Rangers away.

Asked if he was enjoying the positive mood fans have towards the club at the moment, Benitez replied: “I am for sure, 100 per cent.

“After every good training session and every win, I am really pleased and happy.

“If you’re winning, you always enjoy it.

“At the same time I have a responsibility to prepare the team for the next game.

“When you play so many games in a short time you have to be ready.”

While fans may already be thinking of celebrating seeing Newcastle return to the Premier League in May, Benitez will not allow his squad to get ahead of themselves.

Instead, he will continue to drill a message home to his players: United have achieved nothing yet.

“The only thing is to tell the players every day and in every sessions - and tell the fans through Press conferences - that we have to keep going,” he added.

“The fans have to enjoy it but at the same time we have to make sure as professionals that we remain concentrated and we keep working hard.”

(Image: 2016 Newcastle United)

Saturday’s 2-0 win at Derby County was Newcastle’s fifth in a row and saw them rise to second in the Championship table.

The players celebrated in front of the fans after the game, so what message did Benitez have for his squad after the win? And how did the atmosphere in the dressing room differ to the extreme lows of last season?

“I went in and said congratulations and well done,” Benitez said.

“Before the game they were focused and after the game everyone was smiling and laughing.

“I told them to enjoy it and then during the training session we have to focus on the next game.

“When you win games it is easier; when you lose it is so much harder to see players upset.

“It is clear now we have a team spirit because they work together and the way that they are winning, everyone is working so hard, even those coming off the bench.

“It’s about having that winning mentality and the players must try to do their job and give everything, even if they are on the bench.”

Benitez insists he is unfazed by the huge expectation on his Newcastle United squad this season - because he has dealt with even greater pressure to win every week at Real Madrid.

The 56-year-old played for Real’s academy, managed their youth side and then took control of Los Blancos’ first team in 2015.

And Benitez says that to finish second in the league at the Bernabeu means “nothing”.

The expectation from supporters that Newcastle will run away with the Championship title this season is something the Spaniard believes he can deal with having coped with the scrutiny you receive in the Spanish capital for more than two decades.

“When I was 13 years old I started playing for the Real Madrid academy,” Benitez replied when he was asked how he was dealing with the immense weight of expectation.

“So to finish second was nothing.

“You had to finish first, first, first every year. After I was then a coach there for 10 years.

“It was 20 years growing up with this mentality that you have to win and finish first.”

The Magpies are currently on a five-game winning run, have kept four straight clean sheets and are up to second in the Championship table.

But Benitez is adamant that the hard work is only just beginning - Newcastle have achieved “nothing yet”, he insists.

“What I have seen after winning some games in a row that everyone thinks the job is done, but it certainly is not done,” the Spaniard added.

“We have to keep sending the right message and the message is we have done nothing yet.

“We need to keep working hard and keep focused for every game.

“We know that you can lose at any time.

“The other day I was watching Aston Villa; they were losing, winning and then they ended up drawing. Everything can change in one minute.

“The Championship is so difficult and you have to be sure you keep your players on their toes until the end of the season.”