Newcastle United’s goalkeeper explains to Neil Cameron why he savours every minute of European competition

THE nerves have long been banished since a teenage Tim Krul made his Newcastle United debut in an away Uefa Cup tie in Palermo.

But the excitement and importance of European football, or more accurately being successful as this level, has never left the Dutch goalkeeper some 100 first-team games and more than six years later.

You would have been forgiven for thinking the badly-named Europa League had been re-branded the ‘Unwanted Distraction Cup’ up until this point when the nature of the knockout stages gives the competition new meaning, as Newcastle United welcome the superbly-named Metalist Kharkiv to St James’ Park this evening.

Maybe it’s a Dutch thing given Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and, to a lesser extent, AZ Alkmaar have lit up the European stage for over four decades, but Krul has never seen the Europa League as anything other than something to treasure.

And he’s not lost any of the enthusiasm from that night in November 2006 when he made his debut in Palermo and kept a clean sheet.

When asked to recall that match, which ended in a 1-0 Newcastle win, Krul said: “That was first game for the club and I was only 18 at the time, so it was a massive day for me and one I will never forget.

“It was the Uefa Cup back then and it was a special moment.

“Was I nervous? Yes, because it was my first game for a massive club such as this. It was a European game as well so it really was something else.

“Our main this season is the Premier League.

“That is normal. The Europa League, however, is an exciting place to be and especially at Newcastle United where we hope to be in it for a long time.

“The European nights are special. As young boy I always wanted to play in European competition, and I’m definitely excited about this game.

“Funnily enough, I know quite a lot about their stadium because we (Holland) played all our three groups games in the Euros there last summer. I didn’t now much about them as a team, but we know everything about the players now.”

The aim for any team before a first-leg match is to make sure they are still in the tie before the second game comes around.