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Chelsea Win Puts Krul In Seventh Heaven
Written by Newcastle Utd
Tim Krul made his United debut seven years ago today, and celebrated with a clean sheet against Chelsea
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
Seven years ago to the day, a teenage Tim Krul made his Newcastle United debut - and the goalkeeper celebrated that milestone with a clean sheet as the Magpies beat Chelsea 2-0.
Back on 2nd November, 2006, the Dutchman - then just 18 - was thrown into action away at Palermo in the UEFA Cup, putting in an outstanding performance in a single-goal win.
Fast forward to 2013 and it was a similar scenario on Saturday: another win and shut-out for Krul, who during that time has established himself not only as United's number one, but also as an international and one of the best stopper's in Europe.
Made aware of the significant date, Krul told nufc.co.uk: "That is mad, that is really mad.
"Back then I would have hoped to have been stood here now because I always wanted to be the number one, but you never knew what was going to happen.
"I've got a little girl now, I'm engaged, so a lot of good things have come from Newcastle.
"And as a player I'm so glad Newcastle gave me the opportunity to play and I'm very proud to still be here.
"I love this Club. Seven years is a long time but hopefully there's many more to come.
"It's nice to mark it with a clean sheet. We needed it because we have conceded a few goals recently.
"We dug in all together and that started from the strikers all the way down to the back four."
Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy both struck in the second half to hand United all three points over Chelsea - putting a bright spot on the end of a tough week which had seen defeats against Sunderland and Manchester City.
"It was major - a massive, massive win," Krul explained.
"After such a disappointing week and a really heavy game on Wednesday, to put in such an effort, I am really proud of the lads.
"Sometimes you can lose your spirit in the team when you have a week like this but today we showed how together we are, and how hard we wanted to work for each other.
"We didn't really play that well in the first half but we dug in and made sure they didn't score. Then in the second half we took it to them and scored two fantastic goals.
"We put the graft in and to win 2-0 at home against a team like Chelsea, you could see it boost everyone; the fans exploded again.
"These are the days you want at St. James' Park. The fans have to believe we can beat the top sides and we showed that today."
To buy a Newcastle United goalkeeper's shirt with Tim Krul's name and number on the back, click here.