Rafa Benitez reveals the 'big thing' he learnt from Newcastle's dramatic comeback against Norwich

Rafa Benitez says he learnt a lot from Newcastle United's late comeback against Norwich City.
Dwight GayleDwight Gayle
Dwight Gayle

Benitez feels his players can now fight until the end, having watched them scored two injury-time goals to beat Alex Neil's side on Wednesday night.

Dwight Gayle scored a 96th-minute winner at St James's Park to move the club up to third place in the Championship.

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Speaking ahead of tomorrow's game against basement club Rotherham United, Benitez said: "For me, the fans, the club, the future ... the behaviour of if the players was the big thing.

"They didn’t give up, that was really important. The fans have to believe they can go to the end. The players fought until the end, and that is positive for the future.

“I think if you are playing against a team near the top, it was important for us to do well. It was not a crucial game, but it was a very important game in terms of the belief with us wanting to stay at the top.

“I was really proud for the fans, for the players. I was proud, because you can see they are not giving up. That is a key thing in the approach for this competition. It was important to keep pushing to get this result."

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On the Rotherham game, Newcastle manager Benitez added: “We don’t change the approach. We didn’t have too much time to prepare.

"We have to be fine physically. We have spoken about how we play this game. We have made a couple of tactical adjustments, but the main thing is we are mentally ready."