CALLUM WILSON has done pretty much everything during his 14 years as a footballer, from playing in the Conference Premier on loan at Kettering to strutting his stuff at the World Cup finals with England. Prior to the start of this season, however, a Champions League appearance looked like being the one thing that would forever be missing from his CV.

That changed in September, when he was a second-half substitute at the San Siro in Newcastle’s opening group game with AC Milan, and a month-and-a-half later, he was making his first Champions League start at Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iguna Park.

Tomorrow, he gets the chance to dine at European football’s top table once again as AC Milan visit St James’ Park in a group decider that will determine whether or not Newcastle continue their continental adventures in the second half of the campaign. The stakes could hardly be higher, but Wilson is determined to savour every second.

“The Champions League was the one thing that I thought, personally, might have passed me by,” said the 31-year-old, who insists he is ready to start tomorrow after returning from a hamstring injury during the second half of Sunday’s Premier League defeat at Spurs. “I joined Newcastle and knew they had the potential to be a huge football club, but I always classed it as a sleeping giant really.

“We were in relegation battles and things like that, but once the takeover happened, we’ve added quality to the squad and got ourselves into this position. I’ve been able to achieve that dream, along with a lot of other players who might not have had that same opportunity in the past as well.”

Jacob Murphy’s grinning reaction to the Champions League anthem in Milan provided one of the defining images of Newcastle’s European return, and Wilson admits he experienced something similar as he lined up Dortmund.

“Dortmund away was my first start,” he said. “A lot of the lads had started other games previously, but for me, walking across the pitch and then starting there, hearing the music playing, it was a special moment.

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“You can look back at lots of times in my career when things have been tough. I’ve had double ACL injuries and might have thought that this would never happen. So, you try to grasp the opportunity with both hands. Unfortunately, things didn’t go our way on that night, but we’ve got another opportunity.”

To have any chance of progressing to the last 16, Newcastle have to win tomorrow. They must then hope that Paris St Germain fail to take all three points at Borussia Dortmund, but while their fate is not in their own hands after last month’s hugely controversial refereeing decision in the Parc des Princes, their part of the equation tomorrow remains a simple one. Win, and they have a chance. Draw, and the best they can hope for is a place in the Europa League. Lose, and they will not be playing European football at all in the spring.

The Northern Echo: Newcastle United striker Callum WilsonNewcastle United striker Callum Wilson (Image: PA)

“We will leave blood, sweat and tears out there,” said Wilson. “It’s what we do every time we step over the white line, and for us as a football club, it’s about having no regrets. We have an opportunity in front of us, and all we can do is focus on Milan.

“Just leave everything on the football field, that’s all we can do. All we can do is beat the team that’s in front of us, so that’s what we'll be trying to do, and then hopefully things go right elsewhere.”

Like a number of other Newcastle players, Wilson has suffered an injury-disrupted campaign. His hamstring issues have kept him on the sidelines for long spells, and prevented him from getting into the kind of goalscoring rhythm that has made him one of the most reliable goalscorers in the Premier League in the last few years.

If there is a sense of regret about any aspect of Newcastle’s Champions League journey, it is that Eddie Howe has not been able to select a settled side that was able to grow from one game to the next. Win tomorrow, and perhaps that might happen in the second half of the campaign.

“There’s been a lot of rotation,” said Wilson. “At the beginning of the season, we had great depth within the squad, but throughout the season, things happen. Injuries happen. We’ve not really got that as much at the moment, but of course we’d like to carry our campaign on as long as possible. It’s a fantastic journey that we’re on. It’s in our hands to try to get a result.”