As Newcastle prepared to fly to Zagreb yesterday to defend their 2-1 lead in the second leg of this Champions' League qualifying round, Sir John Hall countered the nationalistic fervour currently gathering round the Croatia-Zagreb team with his personal, all-time favourite topic - the great Geordie nation.

Quotations attributed to various Zagreb coaches - particularly one reference to Newcastle as "a bunch of losers" - have been circulating on Tyneside, and even though the veracity of these remarks should questioned, they are not, because it all fits into the atmosphere.

"They are playing for their nation after all that's happened out there, but we play for the Geordie nation," Hall said.

"There's a lot of talk about pride and passion out there. You've got to understand where they are coming from at the moment because they are trying to project their nation after the war years. There is going to be psychological warfare, we know that, we know what has been said in Croatia. The game is already won in their view - let's hope they're over confident."

There is an element of truth in such talk. Croatia is emerging from a war, nationalism is understandably high, and the club/country's identity has been forcibly welded together by the imposition of the name "Croatia Zagreb" by the country's president, Franjo Tudman.

Undoubtedly the atmosphere could be a bit spicy, but Kenny Dalglish was wise enough to play down comparisons with the bitterness of the previous round when Zagreb faced Partizan Belgrade - Croat v Serb.

"Their supporters will try to intimidate and influence the referee," said Dalglish. "But we're playing their players, not their fans."