Fab thrilled to Schär success with fans

Schär headed home Newcastle’s third just after the hour mark to all but put the outcome beyond doubt at Craven Cottage, Jonjo Shelvey’s thunderbolt and Ayoze Pérez’s close-range finish having put Rafa Benítez’s side in the ascendancy early on.

Salomón Rondón added a fourth at the death as United sealed a 13^th-place finish in the top flight and eclipsed last season’s points tally of 44.

“We wanted to give the fans something at the end of the season. It was the last away game, and again the support was amazing,” Schär said to nufc.co.uk after the final whistle. “We wanted to go up one position, we wanted to do our job and we did it. At the end we have gone one place above and that’s a good thing for the season. And we have one point more than last year so we can be happy with our last day.

“We knew they like to keep possession, they like to have the ball. But only possession cannot score goals. For us it was clear that they maybe had more of the ball but we scored two goals and after that we had everything more or less under control. In the second half we scored the third and I think that was the end of the game. It was a really good performance from us.

“I think we have had some good games away. The last few games, we have picked up some points – we won against Leicester and we have had some good results. We can be strong away – we always have big support so an away game is never that bad. We can be happy with our season at the end.”

Swiss international Schär linked up with Newcastle from Deportivo La Coruña last summer but started just one Premier League game prior to November’s 1-0 win over Watford – United’s first of the campaign.

Since, however, he has been a virtual ever-present in the heart of the Magpies’ backline, and ended his first season at St. James’ Park with 28 appearances – and an impressive four goals – to his name.

“For me, it was the perfect game at the end of the season,” he added. “To score is always nice, but with a win is always the most important thing. It was the perfect day for us and also for me.

“At the end it has been a great season. I think I had quite a hard start, like the whole team. We had a bad start but we never gave up; I worked so hard to get to where I am now. I am happy to have played (as many) games now, to have been in the team the last few months and to see where we are. I’m happy to play for Newcastle.”