Shay Given remembers when Newcastle beat Barcelona
Wednesday 13 February 2019 16:41, UK
Shay Given has a lot of fond memories from his 12 years at Newcastle, but there may be one that stands out more than any other.
The Irishman was signed by Kenny Dalglish in August 1997 and, just a few weeks later, was lining up to play Barcelona in the Champions League at St James' Park.
"I had just moved from Blackburn and Kenny Dalglish gave me the No 1 jersey," remembered Given, as he sat down with Sky Bet to discuss some of the highlights of his career.
"There were great goalkeepers like Shaka Hislop, Pavel Srnicek and Steve Harper, so there was a lot of competition to be No 1, but Kenny gave me that responsibility and put the belief in me to be Newcastle's first-choice goalkeeper.
"That year I have memories of playing in the Champions League and the famous night and one of the best nights of being at Newcastle - beating Barcelona."
It was one of the greatest nights in the club's modern history, as a hat-trick from Faustino Asprilla saw Newcastle beat the Catalan giants 3-2.
Watch the full video of Shay Given discussing the win over Barcelona and his goalkeeping career
"It was a special night, I think most Newcastle fans talk about where we were when we beat Barcelona, even looking back now," said Given.
"It was a big build-up as you can imagine, with Champions League football being at at St James' Park, just with Barcelona and how big a club they are rolling into town.
"Louis van Gaal was the manager and I think the talk in the Spanish press was just that they had to turn up at Newcastle and they will win the game, but we had different ideas.
"Asprilla got the hat-trick and the roof was coming off St James' Park, it was such a special atmosphere. They got a couple of late goals but we managed to win the game, and there were some great scenes at the end to beat the mighty Barcelona.
"The crowd was maybe 37 or 38,000 but I felt like there were 137,000 there. It was was so loud."
