Keith Gillespie had some interesting stories to tell on Off The Ball last night, but when he was joined on the show by former Newcastle team-mate and Ireland goalkeeping great Shay Given, the duo reminisced about one of the most famous nights at St James' Park.
On September 17th, 1997, The Magpies were making their Champions League group stage against the mighty Barcelona.
Most pundits expected Newcastle to be well beaten by a Barca team including the likes of Luis Figo, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo.
But no one factored in Newcaslte's Colombian maverick Faustino Asprilla who scored a hat-trick.
The 3 - 2 win for Newcastle has gone down in history and Given and Gillespie relived the build up and performance.
"It was a phenomenal night and the whole build up was about how good Barcelona were. People said we had no chance of beating them," said Given who was only 21 at the time.
"Obviously Barcelona were a special team but it was a special night. The atmosphere was unbelievable - the best I've ever played in at St James' Park. Keith was Man of the Match even if Tino [Asprilla] got the hat-trick. It was Keith that made the goals. He absolutely tormented the full-back that night."
Watch all the goals from the game and see Gillespie's assists below:
Gillespie, who skinned the full-back repeatedly and set up Asprilla with regularity, added: "It was one of those nights where everything went right for us. As Shay mentioned, it was Newcastle's first game in the Champions League so to have Barcelona up first was a huge thing especially for the fans. We just went out there with a bit of belief even though we weren't doing particularly well in the league. Everything seemed to go right and before we knew it we were 3 - 0 up. We were in dreamland."
