Alex Aljoe was forced to present live coverage of the Champions League alongside Wayne Rooney without a crucial item of clothing. The pair were at St James' Park to watch Newcastle beat Qarabag in the second leg of their knockout stage play-off. Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Sven Botman were on target for the Magpies as they secured a 3-2 victory to wrap up a 9-3 aggregate triumph.

Aljoe was on presenting duties for Amazon Prime and was joined by pundits Rooney, Theo Walcott and Les Ferdinand. Before kick-off, she took to the pitch but was forced to remove her heeled shoes to avoid damaging the playing surface. It made for an unusual moment, with Aljoe complaining that her bright white socks were soaked through.

"I can explain, because I had heeled boots on which obviously would damage this beautiful pitch," she told viewers. "So my socks are now sodden here on the pitch. I need a pair of [football] boots, don't I?" Rooney simply replied: "Yeah, you do."

Newcastle went into the match knowing they were essentially guaranteed safe passage into the Champions League round of 16, unless they capitulated after securing a 6-1 victory over Qarabag in the first leg.

They raced into a two-goal advantage within the opening six minutes, with Tonali volleying home in the fourth minute to ease any fears of a monumental collapse.

Joelinton added another just two minutes later before Qarabag, playing for pride at this point, pulled one back after the interval courtesy of Camilo Duran.

Botman restored Newcastle's two-goal advantage shortly afterwards but Elvin Ceferquliyev scored another for Qarabag just before the hour mark.

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It turned out to be the final goal of the evening, with the Magpies holding on to secure victory on the night and in the tie on aggregate.

Speaking after the final whistle, Eddie Howe said: "Not a great performance, but pleased that we won. The problem we maybe had was going 2-0 up so early. I don't think we showed the urgency we needed to get more goals.

"A massive achievement to get to the last 16. Nothing has been given to us. I love the new format, it's a really good thing. We've really enjoyed it and we've navigated the double-header well. I don't care who you play, it's a tough draw.

"There will be a positive feel whoever we get in the last 16. I believe we can raise our game and compete with anyone. We've seen the best of ourselves in cup games this season.

"The Champions League is an amazing thing for us. It's a massive thing to give our season an extra boost. We will attack everything and try to do our best. I believe we can raise our game and compete with anyone."

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