OLIVIER BERNARD wants to make sure Newcastle United's success-starved supporters are not left nursing a double European blow.

The Magpies travel to Liverpool today for what should have been a last day shoot-out for a place in the Champions League.

Instead, after the midweek draw at Southampton, Newcastle have lost the race to finish fourth and they still have it all to do if they are to claim a place in the UEFA Cup next season.

Regardless of whether Sir Bobby Robson's men earn a positive result at Anfield, if Aston Villa overcome Manchester United at Villa Park it will be David O'Leary's men who finish fifth.

However, Darren Ambrose's injury-time equaliser at St Mary's on Wednesday has ensured Newcastle go into the final day still in with a chance of capturing something from another trophy-less campaign. Full-back Bernard believes the players deserve to pay back the club's fans for the disappointments by beating Liverpool.

"Darren's late goal on Wednesday could prove to be one of the most important goals of the season," said the Frenchman, who knows Newcastle have a superior goal difference over Villa, who have one more point.

"It means we have two chances to finish above Aston Villa (if Villa lose or draw).

"Champions League football has gone. It's dead. Now we owe it to our fans to finish on a high at Anfield and we will go there to win."

Goalscorer Ambrose, who enjoyed one of his best games for the club on the south coast, concurred.

He said: "Hopefully the goal will prove important. It's a shame the Champions League spot is not there, but hopefully we can take the positives from the Southampton game to Anfield on Saturday and try to finish the season on a high by getting into the UEFA Cup."

If Newcastle fail to book a spot in European competition then it will pile the pressure on manager Robson following a campaign of under-achievement.

The Tyneside faithful were expecting their heroes to close the gap on the top three this season and finally end 35 years without silverware. However, despite earning £4m from a run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, Newcastle have once again finished empty-handed and will not be playing in the Champions League for the second consecutive year.

Victory at Liverpool today would only be Newcastle's third Premiership away win of the season and they have not won on their travels since beating Fulham at Loftus Road in October.

Bernard admits that the whole squad have found it hard to face up to the fact that they will not be fighting it out with European football's elite clubs again when things restart in August.

"Knowing there is no Champions League qualifier to come when we return to action is very hard to take," said Bernard, well aware of the cost of not qualifying for the competition last August, when they fell at the first hurdle.

"After failing to qualify against Partizan Belgrade this season we were desperate to put things right and now we can't.

"We knew what had to be done before Southampton but we didn't do it. We knew we had to win and therefore we had to attack.

"That meant there were spaces at the back but we conceded three poor goals. Apart from that we did everything we could and I hope our supporters saw how much that Champions League place meant to us.

"It's gone but a UEFA Cup place has to mean just as much. We must play with the same purpose at Liverpool."

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