Newcastle cant be a contender man... stop dreaming, they are only a good team, nothing more, if they reach quarter or even semifinals they are done for this season and they are gonna celeb rate so much for that.
I think they still miss some important or star player to be a real contender.
I also believe that Newcastle can't be a title contender. That is too much for them now. They don't have a qualified squad to make it there. I remember how Chelsea managed to win the Champions League title with Tuchel although their squad quality was worse than teams like Real Madrid, Manchester City.
However Newcastle's squad quality isn't as good as Chelsea's firstly. Secondly they don't have as much experience as Chelsea in this tournament. They aren't as big as them in short. They don't have a mentality that is as strong as Tuchel's Chelsea either now.
Considering all of this the biggest achievement they can get is to qualify for next round in my opinion.
All this is logical, but if you look at history, it is no less logical that once every 20 years something unusual happens, like Leicester’s championship (in the Premier League) or Porto’s victory in the Champions League. Exactly 20 years have passed since this event and who knows, maybe it’s time for another “miracle” to come true. If the draw is the same as last year (in one part there are favorites and in the other outsiders) then the chance of some underdog to take the title will increase.