Eddie Howe's team news update: Tonali, Miley and Willock latest ahead of Barça decider | OneFootball

The Magpies head to the Spotify Camp Nou bidding to book their place in the quarter-finals after last week's 1-1 first leg draw at St. James' Park.

Influential Italian playmaker Tonali missed United's Premier League win at Chelsea last weekend through illness, but head coach Howe said the 25-year-old would train on Tuesday evening before a decision is made on whether he will return against the Catalan giants.

Howe also provided an update on the fitness of Lewis Miley and Joe Willock, and discussed the sizeable challenge his team face as they bid to do what they haven't managed in two previous meetings with Barça this season and get the better of Hansi Flick's men.

Here are some of the main talking points from Tuesday evening's media briefing:

On Tonali's fitness...

"We'll have a look at it today. Today's the first day we've seen him. (It's) an opportunity for hopefully him to train, if he feels strong enough. We'll make a decision tomorrow."

On whether a win on Wednesday would represent the biggest victory of his managerial career...

"I know everyone likes to put a label on these things! But yeah, it probably would. It's irrelevant, really, thinking about it, talking about it, because that's the outcome. At the moment we're still very much in the preparation phase. We're trying to make sure that we get all of our gameplan, tactical delivery, individual performances to the right level. Afterwards will take care of itself.

"My thoughts, everyone's thoughts, the players' thoughts, are just (about) trying to deliver our best and time our best performances for the big moments. Of course, that's tomorrow."

On the importance of not looking too far ahead...

"It's all about the here and now, and the here and now is trying to prepare the game as best we can. A lot of work's gone into these two games, as it does with every game that we have to play now. To give the players the best chance of winning the game, a lot of work goes in beforehand, so that's what we're focused on.

"I really don't like answering hypothetical questions about what the future may hold. Win or lose, the game goes on and we've got a massive, massive game at the weekend, so I don't really want to heap too much pressure on the players. I just want them to try and execute the best performance that they can."

On Miley and Willock...

"Lewi's not with the squad, unfortunately. He's trained at home today, so we're probably looking at the other side of the international break now for Lewi now. It's just taking a little bit longer than we hoped.

"Joe Willock has travelled with us. We'll look at him in training today, and fingers crossed he'll be fine."