FABIAN SCHAR
I knew it was a goal says Magpies defender
FABIAN Schar has admitted he knew he had hit the jackpot the moment the ball left his foot for his wonder goal against Burnley.
The Swiss international scored his third goal for Newcastle United with a sweet strike against the Clarets at St James’ Park.
After wheeling away to the Leazes End to celebrate, Schar could barely contain his delight.
When asked by the Chronicle about his wonder strike, Schar said: “Actually when you hit a ball you can feel if it is a good one or not.
“You never know, sometimes if the ball is too far to the right it hits the post and goes out.
“You know if you have hit it and the luck is with you. It was a special goal for me and of course it was nice to score in front of the fans and to score the first one.
“In the first 45 minutes we were pretty good but after that it was a hard fight. We defended with 11 players to get the points.”
When asked about his emotions after the goal – a strike which sent the club’s all-time leading scorer Alan Shearer into a frenzy – Schar added: “I had space and I tried to get a good shot away.
“I was just happy to help the team score the first goal. I am happy with the three points too.” After securing another important win against the Clarets, their second against Sean Dyche’s side this season, Newcastle moved on to 31 points.
Schar said: “We knew beforehand how massive the two home games would be, especially playing against two teams more or less in the same position in the table.
“We wanted to take the points and we have shown in the last few weeks we can perform. I am happy about that.
“Hopefully we can keep working like this and we have another game this weekend so we are looking for more points.”
Boss Rafa Benitez said: “In the training sessions Fabian is quite good, so we knew beforehand and you know now he can do that.
“He is someone who is comfortable on the ball.”