Football: Chicken Kiev for wary Newcastle

Newcastle arrived in Kiev last night with everything including the kitchen sink. The Magpies, who play Dynamo Kiev in the Champions' League tonight, were accompanied by their catering manager, Robin Buchanan, two chefs and 1,850 kilos of food.

And unlike their last European trip to Zagreb when Buchanan only supervised the catering, this time chefs John Blackmore and Mick Bibby plan to cook everything themselves for United's 70-strong party of players, staff and directors.

Buchanan said: "All the players have specific diets. We are determined there will be no problems."

The Newcastle captain, Rob Lee, seems to be winning his fitness battle after a test on his thigh strain during training at the daunting 100,000 all-seater Olympic Stadium last night. But the Newcastle manager, Kenny Dalglish, refused to say whether or not Lee would start the Group C tie.

Dalglish said that while the injured Stuart Pearce and Alessandro Pistone had travelled he would "wait and see how they are a little later."

But Faustino Asprilla, a hat-trick hero against Barcelona, will be fit to play after recovering from illness. "Tino has trained this last couple of days and is OK," confirmed Dalglish.

Contemplating the game, he said: "We're here to get as much from the game as we can but nothing conclusive will come from the night's games."