'I said...' - Eddie Howe's message to Newcastle United players after Champions League heartbreak v AC Milan

Eddie Howe admitted Newcastle United's 2-1 Champions League defeat to AC Milan at St James' Park was 'tough to take' on a rollercoaster evening of football.

Newcastle had one foot in the last-16 of the competition after Joelinton gave the hosts the lead. Christian Pulisic then equalised for Milan which saw The Magpies drop to third in the group with Europa League football looming.

But the Italian side then sucker-punched The Magpies on the counter-attack with substitute Samuel Chukwueze snatching a late winner to clinch third spot in the group. In the space of 25-minutes, Newcastle had gone from second in the group to bottom.

Summing up his emotions at full-time, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said: "Desperately disappointed. Tough to take at the moment.

"The lads played very well and were good value [for the lead]. Second half we wanted to consolidate that and look for the second goal.

"Really disappointed with their first goal, I didn't think we dealt with the set-piece well enough. Then the game became very transitional with both teams looking to win and we conceded on one of those transitions."

When asked if there was a temptation to settle for Europa League qualification, Howe responded: "We wanted to qualify for the Champions League, that was our intention before the game and in game. You can't take that will away from the players."

And when asked if he had any regrets as Newcastle's first Champions League campaign in over 20 years came to a premature end, Howe told The Gazette: "I said to the players after, I don't think we can regret the effort we've given.

"You look at the players and how much they gave the match physically and I go through every game, they've given so much physically to the competition in each game. There's no part of me that thinks the lads haven't really attacked it and committed - when you get that as a basic then you accept what comes.

"Of course you have regrets in terms of could you have done something different, could you have played a different team? Those are football manager problems and I don't really live with them very long."