MARTIN DUBRAVKA is a major injury doubt ahead of Newcastle United’s Champions League decider with AC Milan, with question marks also hanging over the availability of Sean Longstaff and Anthony Gordon, who also missed training this morning.

Dubravka has started the Magpies’ last two matches, with Nick Pope having been ruled out for around four months after dislocating his shoulder.

However, he injured his back during last week’s 3-0 defeat at Everton and finished the game in discomfort after receiving treatment from Newcastle’s medical staff. He made it through the whole of Sunday’s defeat at Spurs, but his situation is understood to have deteriorated in the last few days.

If Dubravka was to be ruled out of tomorrow’s decider, which the Magpies have to win to have any chance of progressing to the Champions League’s knockout stages, Howe would have to turn to either Loris Karius, who stepped into the side for last season’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley, or Mark Gillespie, whose only three senior appearances for Newcastle have also come in the League Cup.

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Given his appearance against Manchester United in February, Karius would be the much more likely starter, and when asked directly whether Dubravka was available for tomorrow’s game, Howe said: “That is slightly unclear.”

Gordon and Longstaff were both absent from the open section of this morning’s training session, although the latter was always going to be eased back into things after returning from an injury absence at Tottenham at the weekend.

Gordon’s non-appearance was more worrying, with the winger also understood to have suffered a knock in Sunday’s 4-1 defeat.

“You can read whatever you want into that,” said Howe, when asked about the absentees. “It’s two days after a game, so we’re obviously trying to manage players. We’ll see who’s fit for tomorrow.”