Sir Bobby Robson steered Newcastle to within touching distance of the Uefa Cup final last night but warned United's players that Olympique Marseille will pose a major threat to the club's hopes of tasting Gothenburg glory.
Goals from Alan Shearer and Gary Speed secured a narrow win over PSV Eindhoven on a tense evening on Tyneside to help the Magpies reach their first European semi-final in 35 years.
With the club in the driving seat in the race for the final Champions League qualifying spot, there promises to be a fascinating climax to the season at St James's Park.
But Robson will not allow his side to get carried away by the hype and insisted last night that nobody in the dressing room is thinking of taking on Valencia or Villareal in the final in Sweden next month.
"Marseille will present a difficult hurdle," said the Newcastle boss, who will pit his wits against Jose Anigo and his team next Thursday before leading United to Stade Velodrome for the return leg a fortnight later on May 6.
"Marseille have knocked out a fine team in Inter Milan by winning home and away and you can't do any better than that.
"I sent Charlie Woods to watch their first leg last week and he thought that they were tremendous, he liked them very much and said they could have won 4-0, so we would have been happy to see Inter go through.
"It's a hostile place to go, they will have 65,000 there and it will not be easy; Marseille is a cauldron.
"We have to play them over two legs so we are not looking at the final. We are two complete games away from it and we can't get ahead of ourselves."
With the first leg having finished 1-1 at the Philips Stadion six days ago, the tie was delicately balanced. But Shearer eased any nerves with his ninth-minute opener and, with Jonathan Woodgate delivering another accomplished defensive performance, PSV struggled to make an impact in the first half.
Olivier Bernard's mistake allowed Mateja Kezman to level the scores from the penalty spot at the start of the second period before Speed struck the decisive blow.
"It is one of the best goals he has scored and certainly one of the most important," said Robson. "Gary has battled hard for us all season, he has played most of our matches and has had a marvellous year. That goal could not have come from a more important player.
"As for Alan's, it was a classic Shearer goal. He does that every week. It was nice for the two old timers; or three old timers if you count me." Although United defended their lead well, Robson could not afford to relax as his former team went in search of the second away goal which would have secured their progression into the semi-finals.
"The game was never over and that's why it was so absorbing," he added. "If we hadn't really turned the screw, we might have gone out.
"At 2-1, the last 10 minutes were always going to be tense.
"I have mixed feelings about it. I am glad we have won it but it was against one of my former sides and I am sad that they have gone out.
"I don't know where this result stands in the scheme of things. But it is very important, it is a very big win for us all."
Newcastle's medical team will today assess Titus Bramble after the defender was forced to retire in the closing stages with a knee problem.
"Titus got a pretty nasty bang," added Robson, whose side return to Premiership action at Aston Villa on Sunday.
"I took a risk in playing him because he already had a slight problem, but I wanted to keep Andy O'Brien fresh for Sunday.
