Ryan Taylor: “As you can imagine, it’s a bit of a nightmare.
“With three games to go after a long season it’s probably the last thing we wanted to do. But when you read about what it can do to planes, I’d rather be on the ground than in the air.
“We usually fly everywhere – even when we go to the Midlands, so it’s probably a bit of a novelty for some of the lads.
Eight and a half hours on a coach isn’t many people’s idea of a good time.”
- NEWCASTLE (v PLYMOUTH): Harper; Simpson, Williamson, Hall, Enrique; Routledge, Nolan, Guthrie, Gutierrez; Lovenkrands, Carroll.
Liverpool are looking at a contingency plan for alternative travel options to Madrid should UEFA decide to press ahead with their Europa League semi-final against Atletico on Thursday.
European football's governing body are yet to rule on whether the last-four first-leg clashes - Fulham also have to go to Hamburg - will go ahead because of the chaos caused by a cloud of volcanic ash which has grounded thousands of flights across the continent.
However, having already insisted the Champions League semi-finals between Inter Milan and Barcelona and Bayern Munich and Lyon will go ahead, forcing the Spanish and French sides to make long journeys by coach, there is a real possibility UEFA will follow suit with the Europa League.
But with the flying ban extended until Tuesday morning at the earliest Liverpool are having to plan for a worst-case scenario by tackling the 2,600-mile round trip overland.
The journey by road would take an estimated 21 hours non-stop!