The biggest cheer of the night came shortly afterwards. St James’ Park finally found its voice to welcome back Jonás Gutiérrez into a Newcastle side for the first time since his diagnosis with testicular cancer 17 months ago. Hugged by his friend Coloccini, Gutiérrez was handed the captain’s armband after replacing Ryan Taylor at left-back and promptly collected a booking for fouling Adnan Januzaj – on for a frustrated Angel Di Maria.