Monaco deliver lesson to Dalglish

Monaco 3 Newcastle United 0 Monaco win 4-0 on aggregate

Newcastle's Uefa Cup adventure ended with a whimper last night as Monaco marched confidently into the semi-finals. Kenny Dalglish's depleted outfit, trailing 1-0 from the quarter-final first leg on Tyneside, faced an uphill task in a sold-out Stade Louis II - and once Sylvain Legwinski had fired Monaco ahead three minutes from the break it looked like mission impossible.

Jean Tigana's classy French League leaders took complete control after the break and the outclassed Magpies looked ragged and dispirited long before the final whistle, as Ali Benarbia snuffed out any hope of a Newcastle fightback with two second-half goals.

Benarbia fired home from 10 yards five minutes after the break and then curled a 25-yard free-kick into the top right corner in the 67th minute to leave the Magpies' European dreams in tatters. Monaco became the first French side to knock out English opponents in Europe since 1977 - when Bastia beat Newcastle.

The Magpies' bid to stage a comeback without Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand ended in predictable failure. They found themselves in the millionaires' playground of Monte Carlo without pounds 21m-worth of attacking talent and once again it proved too big a burden to bear.

The Magpies had hoped the return of Faustino Asprilla might inspire a dramatic fightback, but the pounds 7.5m Colombian, who had scored five goals in five Uefa Cup ties, made little impact against Monaco's rock-solid defence. Dalglish is still looking for his first win as a manager in Europe, and his record now consists of three defeats and one draw with Blackburn and Newcastle.

Newcastle had an early escape when Thierry Henry, having left Steve Watson in his wake, fired a shot across the face of goal and the ball bounced off Robbie Elliott's shins and just wide of Shaka Hislop's left-hand post. Henry's pace was posing Newcastle problems and, after beating Watson and Barton, his low shot was well smothered by Hislop.

Monaco's pressure was rewarded with a goal three minutes from the break. Peter Beardsley was caught in possession by Legwinski 30 yards out and the Monaco midfielder advanced to hit a 20-yard shot which took a slight deflection off Philippe Albert to beat Hislop.

The Magpies looked dead and buried five minutes into the second half when Benarbia made it 2-0. Anderson da Silva burst past Albert only for Hislop to save at his feet but Monaco quickly regained possession. Henry had a half chance inside the box and although his shot was blocked the rebound fell to Benarbia, who thumped a 10-yard shot into the roof of the net.

Benarbia ended any lingering hopes of a Newcastle fightback in the 65th minute when he curled a 25-yard free-kick over the Magpies' defensive wall and into the top right corner.

Monaco: Barthez; Blondeau, Djetou, Dumas, Petit, Collins, Benarbia (Scifo, 76), Anderson, Legwinski, Grimandi (Martin, 71), Henry (Ikpeba, 67). Substitutes not used: Porato (gk), Grassi.

Newcastle United: Hislop; Barton (Clark, 78), Batty, Peacock (Beresford, 80), Lee, Beardsley (Gillespie, 53), Asprilla, Albert, Ginola, Watson, Elliott. Substitutes not used: Srnicek (gk), Crawford.

Referee: M Diaz Vega (Spain).