The Magpies host the Portuguese outfit, currently unbeaten in their domestic campaign, at St. James' Park as they target back-to-back wins in the competition for the first time since 2003 following a 4-0 away victory against Union Saint-Gilloise earlier this month.

Howe revealed that Tonali is a doubt for Tuesday night's encounter against José Mourinho's side, after the Italian midfielder missed Monday's training session at the Magpies' Benton base due to illness, while addressing his desire to return to winning ways following last weekend's 2-1 defeat away at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Here are some of the boss' main talking points during Monday afternoon's pre-match media briefing, held at St. James' Park...

On Saturday's setback against Brighton...

"We feel like we need another game. We're delighted to play again quickly and try to build momentum back in our performances. Reflecting on the Brighton game was mixed.

"There was a lot of good in the game but ultimately it doesn't matter, we lost the game and we know we need to improve."

On Tonali's availability...

"A bit of illness for Sandro so he will be touch and go for the game. We'll give him every opportunity. He wasn't there for training today. He's such an important player so we'll use all the hours we have."

On facing Mourinho, who has won the Champions League with two different clubs as a manager....

"He's someone that I hugely admire having come up against him before in the Premier League. As a younger coach, I really admired the teams that he built, at Chelsea in particular.

"A visionary and someone who broke the mould in how you manage in different ways to do things and then following his success through different clubs in different leagues. It's incredible what he has achieved in his career so I think it's always a good opportunity for any club to go up against one of his teams.

"[I'm] looking forward to the challenge immensely and it's going to be a great game."

On a return to Champions League action...

"We love these games. The Barcelona game here was so close for us and it could have been a very different outcome. "We've been in that position a lot this season where the results could have gone either way. We've been very competitive, we were competitive that night and this has a similar type of feel under the lights here. The atmosphere will be electric, I have no doubt. I hope our performance mirrors that crowd energy that we're going to get."

On the season so far:

"Frustrating is the feeling. I think we're so close to being something more and getting better results than we have. I think team performances have been strong, we've been very good defensively although there was a couple of lapses against Brighton that we were punished for. "We're working so hard to try and create chances and the best example of that is our goal. It was a move from our goalkeeper to the finish - it's a brilliant goal. That's a lot of work to get that goal.

"You make your own luck and you can only turn things your own way by doing the right things continually. I don't think we're far away, we just have to keep to our beliefs."

On Mourinho's connection with Sir Bobby Robson...

"I've heard José's words about Newcastle and I echo them myself. Everyone connected to the club has great words about Sir Bobby and the role he played in his career - that's really nice to hear.

"The line stops tomorrow when the game kicks off. We want to win. We're desperate for the points and it will be a competitive game between two great clubs."