Newcastle United were rearranging their flight plans last night after their Champions League match against Barcelona was postponed by 24 hours.

Storms and heavy rain in Spain caused the match to be called off as supporters began to gather at the Nou Camp.

The game was postponed at the 11th hour following a pitch inspection by referee Frank De Bleeckere - his third of the day.

It will be staged at the same time tonight, providing the pitch is playable by then.

Newcastle boss Bobby Robson said the decision was the right one but admitted that his thoughts were with his club's supporters, thousands of whom had travelled to the Catalan capital.

In the same group Inter Milan took the chance to go top with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

A first-half double from Luigi di Biagio and a terrible goalkeeping blunder by Leverkusen's Hans-Jorg Butt had looked to have ended all hope for the Bundesliga side at the San Siro.

Boris Zivkovic had got his side back in contention midway through the second half to make it 2-1. But Butt's error sparked off a dramatic final 10 minutes which saw substitute Franca grab Leverkusen's second in injury time and Bernd Schneider thinking he had hit an equaliser at the death, only to be booked for handling the ball into the net.

Meanwhile, in Arsenal's group, Ajax took full advantage of a goalkeeping blunder by Roma's Francesco Antonioli to win 2-1.

Zlatan's goal, after 10 minutes, came courtesy of an extraordinary handling mistake by the goalkeeper who failed to hold a bouncing shot by South African midfielder Steven Pienaar, spilling into Zlatan's path.

Litmanen struck Ajax's second with a perfectly-judged 20-metre shot after 66 minutes.

That seemed to have settled the outcome though substitute Gabriel Batistuta, with a header, grabbed a consolation for Roma in the 89th minute.