Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe says his side are "still alive" in the Carabao Cup, but one of football's "magical moments" will be needed to overhaul Manchester City.
The Magpies – holders of the trophy – lost 2-0 in the home leg of their semi-final against City on Tuesday, with the Manchester leg arriving on 4 February.
"We're still alive, we're still in there fighting, although it is very difficult to turn it around," said Howe, whose side beat Arsenal 2-0 in the first leg of last year’s semi.
"It's still possible and football can conjure up some magical moments.
"Last year, we were on the other side of this scoreline. We went to Arsenal and won 2-0 and we felt that game was still very much alive, it was all about the next goal in the tie. I think that's going to be the case in this one – if we can get the next goal, we're still very much in it.
"We saw enough today to think we can be competitive and we weren't at our absolute best physically. But I still think we caused them problems, so we're going to have to go with that same mindset again."
Despite a 2-0 defeat, Howe saw plenty of encouraging signs and his side hit the woodwork several times before City took control.
Next up, Newcastle travel to bottom-club Wolves on Sunday before hosting PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday.
"It's a disappointing defeat, but I don't think it's a majorly disappointing performance," said Howe. "I don't think it should tar confidence in any way. In fact I think in some senses, it should enhance it.
"We were close to doing really well against one of the best teams in the division, but we have to refocus now.
"We've got a really difficult game against Wolves where, if we go with any fatigue or without the right mindset, these are really difficult games, as we've found before this season."
