Bentaleb explains what was said before Newcastle’s extra-time win

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The Magpies showed real spirit to move on to the next round of the FA Cup.

Newcastle United midfielder Nabil Bentaleb spoke to the club’s official website and gave an insight into what was said before extra-time in last night’s game against Oxford United.

Steve Bruce’s men got off to the perfect start and were 2-0 up at the half-hour mark. Goals from Sean Longstaff and Joelinton set them up for what could have been an easy win but Oxford United got back into the game with two goals in the final 10 minutes of normal time.

Newcastle managed to get the win thanks to a 116th-minute goal from Allan Saint-Maximin and January signing Nabil Bentaleb explained exactly what was said after the 90 minutes that inspired the side go through in the competition.

He said: “We conceded the second goal right at the end of the game. We had the break and we spoke and said, ‘OK, now we are not losing this – there is no chance we are losing this. OK, we didn’t make it easy for ourselves, but now we have to work it back, give for the fans and also prove to ourselves that we deserve to go through.”

Those words at the break certainly proved to be inspirational and the Magpies made it past the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 14 years.

Newcastle now face Championship side West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns in the next round and Bruce would certainly love to get into the quarter-finals of the competition.

Bentaleb has had a decent start to life at Newcastle after two assured performances in midfield. He will be hoping to keep up the same from now until the end of his loan spell.