Newcastle's hopes of snatching another famous Champions League scalp were blown apart by Inter Milan as Craig Bellamy's red mists descended and his side lost 4-1 at St James' Park.

	Craig Bellamy's moment of madness. (StuForster/GettyImages)

The volatile Welshman, who has already served a three-match ban for head-butting Dynamo Kiev's Tiberiu Ghioane, received his marching orders - and the certainty of another lengthy and costly suspension - just five minutes into the game for kicking out at Marco Materazzi.

With Newcastle already trailing to Domenico Morfeo's strike after just 66 seconds, Sir Bobby Robson's side were left with a mountain to climb - and that task was to become significantly more extreme before even half the game had elapsed.

Milan, who had scored only four goals in ten European matches in England before the game, collected two more before the break, Almeyda blasting home the second from 25 yards and then Hernan Crespo adding a third in injury time.

Robson's ten men, inspired by substitute Laurent Robert, rallied bravely after the break and got their reward when Nolberto Solano reduced the deficit with 18 minutes remaining.

But substitute Alvaro Recoba made certain of the points with a breathtaking 81st-minute strike, less than half a minute after replacing Crespo.

United ran out firmly believing that they had a real chance of upsetting Hector Cuper's men, but their hopes were blown out of the water inside a nightmare 45 minutes which reflected the brilliance of the Italians and the inadequacies of the hosts.

The game was barely a minute old when Javier Zanetti, in what was to become something of a regular occurrence, slipped away from Aaron Hughes and sent in a cross which Crespo could not convert at the near post - but Morfeo did in emphatic style at the far.

Bellamy's moment of madness came four minutes later when, after Materazzi roughed him up, he lost his cool and flicked out a boot, earning the inevitable red card.

The home fans were furious with referee Stephane Bre, but the striker's tears as he left the pitch stung all the more for the realisation that he had only himself to blame.

Inter, even taking into account their numerical advantage, were a cut above Newcastle as Emre and Almeyda probed from the middle of the park to feed Zanetti down the right and £67.5million strike-force of Crespo and Christian Vieri.

It would have been worse for Newcastle had Shearer not gone unpunished for a swinging elbow which saw Fabio Cannavaro fall to the deck as the players waited in the Inter area for a free-kick to be taken.

Nikos Dabizas might have levelled with a close-range 11th-minute header and Solano drew a superb diving save from Francesco Toldo with a dipping free-kick, but at the other end, the visitors had too much pace and movement for United to hope that the threat had passed.

But little can they have expected to be put so firmly in their place before the break, Almeyda making it 2-0 with a 25-yard rocket on 35 minutes and then Crespo firing home at the near post from Okan's neat pass in injury time.

Newcastle returned for the second half with only pride to play for - but that is a valuable commodity in Robson's book, and neither he nor his players threw in the towel.

Robert, who fractured his cheekbone just three weeks ago, replaced Hugo Viana at the break and his introduction injected fresh impetus into his side.

Kieron Dyer saw a close-range shot blocked by Giovanni Pasquale and Dabizas headed over from a Solano corner as United rallied.

Robert twice chanced his arm from distance as the home crowd raised their voices, and Alan Shearer went inches over the top with a bullet header from another Solano delivery.

They got their reward with 18 minutes remaining when the Frenchman split the Milan defence with a perfect ball to Solano, who slipped his shot under Toldo to give Newcastle the faintest glimmer of hope.

It could have been even better two minutes later when Shearer slipped past Fabio Cannavaro wide on the right and pulled the ball back for Solano, but he could not control his left-foot shot as the black and white faithful collectively held their breath.