The Dutchman has singled out Glenn Roeder's £10million summer signing Obafemi Martins as the main threat as his side attempt to return to the BSB Stadium with a positive result and a foothold in the quarter-finals.

Martins has scored 14 goals since his move to Tyneside from Inter Milan, and although he has not been on target in his last two games, van Gaal is only too aware of his potency.

He said: "When you look at Obafemi Martins, in my eyes he is one of the best strikers at the moment in this league and maybe Europe as well.

"He is flexible, he is fast, he can shoot with both feet and he is a good header of the ball as well.

"He has got talent, but he is not really playing at a top European club at the moment.

"Maybe Newcastle are a top club, but they have not had success in the last few years."

Van Gaal has been quoted in recent days as suggesting Newcastle should be far better off than the 11th place they currently occupy in the Barclays Premiership table with the players Roeder has at his disposal.

He was adopting a more conciliatory stance as he conducted his pre-match press conference at St James' Park, and although confident, pointed to Liverpool's Champions League victory over his former club Barcelona to illustrate the potential pitfalls of over-confidence.

Van Gaal said: "Obviously, the Premier League is very strong. Newcastle could be in a higher position, especially when you look at the players they have.

"Of course, there are a few players injured and Albert Luque, who is a fantastic player, is only on the bench, although that is the choice of the manager.

"Of course, the closer you get to the final, the bigger your opponents are going to be.

"Newcastle at the moment are not in a really good shape, but they ended up first in their group and they are definitely not an easy team to beat.

"Sometimes, some people in Holland think about it in a different way, but when you look at a game like last night's, Liverpool on paper have fewer top quality players compared to Barcelona, but the cup holders are now out."

AZ lie second in the Eredivisie table behind PSV Eindhoven after Sunday's 4-0 win at Utrecht, the side they dumped out of the Dutch Cup last week with Roeder an interested spectator.

An 18-man party jetted into Tyneside without injury victims Rogier Molhoek, Stijn Schaars, David Mendes da Silva, Joey Didulica and Khalid Sinouh, although midfielder Simon Cziommer did travel after returning to fitness.

The Dutch side led Fenerbahce - beaten by the Magpies on Tyneside during group stage of the competition - 3-1 in Istanbul before being pegged back to 3-3, and then fought back from 2-0 down in the return leg to go through on the away goals rule.

Van Gaal, who refused to comment on speculation that his contract could be extended, has visited St James' three times before, all with Barcelona, although it is his first trip to the north-east for a Champions League encounter in 1997 which is remembered most fondly by the natives.

He said: "We lost 3-2 - it was 3-0 at half-time and Faustino Asprilla scored a hat-trick.

"But in Barcelona, the score was 1-0 to us and the most important thing was the result over the two games.

"I would settle for the same scenario."