Sir Bobby Robson was last night praying that Juventus would decide against adopting Sir Alex Ferguson's approach to the Champions' League and give United a sporting chance of qualifying for the second round.

Newcastle need to beat Feyenoord on November 13 and hope Kiev fail to win against Juve on the same night to finish second in Group E.

But Robson fears that Juventus coach Marcello Lippi, whose side confirmed their qualification for the next stage with last night's 2-0 win against Feyenoord, will field a severely depleted team in Ukraine.

Manchester United manager Ferguson's decision to rest his stars against Maccabi Haifi was largely responsible for their 3-0 defeat yesterday.

And Robson knows the Magpies' 2-1 win over Kiev might not be enough to save their Champions' League skin if Juve's top players do not travel to Eastern Europe in two weeks' time.

Robson said: "I don't know if Juventus will do what Manchester United did and play a weakened side.

"That will have a big bearing on it, of course.

"All we can do is play our parts and see what the other parties do.

"I can't dictate or legislate what other managers and clubs will do in the last game.

"Would I rest some of my players? I'm not in Juventus's position, so I can't say what I would do in that case.

"Would I understand it if they rested a few players? I won't answer that question.

"We must also remember that we are away, whereas Kiev will be at home.

"Obviously Kiev have a good chance, but if Juventus play their best team and play to win, we would have a big chance."

Alan Shearer scored the penalty that secured victory for Newcastle, the striker keeping his cool during a tense delay after the spot-kick was awarded.

Robson said: "We've got some very good penalty takers in the team but Alan is the best. He's the calmest and he has the strongest personality.

"He's been in that position so many times where he's had to take important penalties for club and country, and I never thought he would fail us.

"He had to wait before taking a penalty, which wasn't easy.

"You have to keep cool and keep talking to yourself, and he did that."

Robson added: "The players gave a supreme effort physically, mentally and technically.

"Conceding a goal was a real blow to the players but they recovered well."

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