Geordie star happy with start

£9.5million Newcastle striker Albert Luque has expressed his delight at the start he has made for the club this season following a torrid opening season in the Premiership.

The 28-year-old Spaniard said: "I am very happy to have scored the goal - maybe the new shirt will bring me some luck.

"Last season, the number 20 was not good for me. I got the injury in my second game, and it was a tough season.

"Now I have the number seven shirt, hopefully things will be better for me now."

On the disappointing 1-1 draw with Lillestrom he said: "Lillestrom are well into their season, so their fitness was always going to better than ours.

"We knew that before the game, but we are happy because we got stronger as the game went on.

"We were disappointed at half-time because they were stronger than us, but in the second half we picked it up and after we scored the equaliser, we always wanted to go on and win the tie.

"A 1-1 draw is not bad for us. Of course, it would have been nice to win, but we will go to Norway full of confidence and we know what we have to do.

"We know how important the game is, because it is the ambition of every one of us to get the club into Europe again in the new season."