Alan Pardew: “It’s competition we’d all love to win.
“It’s difficult to get through the group stage, make no mistake, so we don’t want that hard work to be for nothing.
“I’ll be picking a strong side. The new lads who arrived last month have given us greater depth, so I’ll take advantage of that with my team selection.
“Metalist are a good side – you just have to look at the teams they finished above in their group to realise that – so they’ll get our full respect.
“But the last 16 is in our reach, and there could be some big ties ahead for us.
“I’m sure our fans would relish bringing more big European nights to St James’s Park, so we’ll be doing everything we can to progress and deliver that.”