Unavailable Newcastle United duo travel to Borussia Dortmund as supporters take over - Champions League diary

The industrious surroundings of Dortmund, chilly German weather and various travel disruptions are strikingly different from the sun-drenched canals of Milan less than two months ago.

It always going to be quite different, but the excitement is still palpable as Newcastle prepare for arguably their most important Group F game so far. Four points from their opening three games has been a respectable first-half from Eddie Howe’s side, but back to back defeats against Borussia Dortmund would significantly dent their hopes of progression to the last-16.

Unlike Milan, this trip is more about the football than the occasion itself, though the 20,000 Geordies travelling to Germany may beg to differ. The Toon Army have been split between Dortmund and nearby Dusseldorf ahead of the match and have made their presence felt in both cities with drinking and chanting into the early hours.

Walking into a Dortmund hotel reception at 1am to a drunken Geordie rendition of Junior Turner’s ‘Is this way to Barcelona?’ is really the epitome of what these European away days are all about - before the football takes hold at least.

And on Monday night, Eddie Howe and Fabian Schar promptly arrived at the Signal Iduna Park to address the media.

Howe’s press conference was dominated by the serious injury blow sustained by Dan Burn, with the defender ruled out for a couple of months after falling on his back against Arsenal. Matt Targett also faces months on the sidelines with 12 players out in total for Newcastle for the trip.

Matt Ritchie and Mark Gillespie, both of whom aren’t part of Newcastle’s Champions League squad, have still made the journey to Dortmund along with Under-21s players Lewis Miley, Ben Parkinson and Lucas De Bolle.

Schar’s press conference was far more uplifting in comparison with the Swiss international declaring his ‘love’ for the club and desire to finish his career on Tyneside.

The stadium itself is striking with its yellow and black decor and it’s hard not to marvel at the 25,000 capacity ‘Yellow Wall’ stand, the largest of its kind in Europe. And that’s when it’s empty, things will almost certainly be taken up several notches come kick-off on Tuesday evening.