{"id":38412,"date":"2023-10-04T23:53:53","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T23:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=38412"},"modified":"2023-10-04T23:53:54","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T23:53:54","slug":"champions-league-newcastle-utd-4-1-psg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/10\/04\/champions-league-newcastle-utd-4-1-psg\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions League: Newcastle Utd 4-1 PSG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two years ago Sean Longstaff looked to be on his way out at Newcastle and seemed destined for a lower-division future, while Dan Burn could not be certain of a first-team place at Brighton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few crystal-ball gazers would have predicted that particularly unlikely pair not merely joining Miguel Almir\u00f3n and Fabian Sch\u00e4r in scoring against\u00a0Paris Saint-Germain\u00a0here but utterly eclipsing Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and friends as Newcastle\u2019s first home Champions League game for 20 years concluded amid unbridled geordie joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When PSG trained at St James\u2019 Park on Tuesday night, Mbapp\u00e9 quickly demanded an emergency pair of gloves. They were discarded here but a forward widely regarded as the world\u2019s best player barely laid a finger on Eddie Howe\u2019s team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With Kieran Trippier repeatedly second-guessing Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s manoeuvres, Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 becoming thoroughly disheartened by Burn\u2019s assiduous attention at left-back and Longstaff impressing enormously in central midfield, Howe choreographed a major disruption of the established European order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to forget that when Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund bought Newcastle almost exactly two years ago, Howe was unemployed. Right now he looks nailed on for manager of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the final whistle Mbapp\u00e9 shrugged and blew his cheeks out but he and his disappointing teammates had failed to heed their manager\u2019s warning. Luis Enrique told them Newcastle was \u201ca hostile but spectacular\u201d place to play and they needed to rise to the attendant challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PSG coach\u00a0finished on the losing side hereback in 1997 when Faustino Asprilla\u2019s hat-trick earned Newcastle a 3-2 Champions League win against Barcelona and he must swiftly have feared that history was repeating itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, PSG should have scored after five minutes when Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 miscued his volley after meeting Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s sublime cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howe was anxious for his team to make \u201ca fast start\u201d yet their initial attempts to summon up that hallmark ferocious press were stymied by PSG\u2019s early knack of slowing the play down. Marquinhos particularly enjoyed teasing his hosts by lingering in possession but, when he turned slapdash, Newcastle scored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first goal began with Bruno Guimar\u00e3es\u2019s head intercepting Marquinhos\u2019s badly weighted pass and Alexander Isak forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma to save with his legs. The ball out was met by the rapidly reacting Almir\u00f3n who delighted in sweeping the crispest of left-foot shots beyond the goalkeeper\u2019s reach before leaping into the crowd. It was Newcastle\u2019s first\u00a0Champions League\u00a0goal since Alan Shearer scored against Internazionale at San Siro 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Miguel
Miguel Almir\u00f3n roars with delight after scoring Newcastle\u2019s first Champions League goal in 20 years. Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt\/AMA\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Small wonder Luis Enrique had said that Howe\u2019s XI were \u201cthe team in pot four no one wanted\u201d. They were certainly growing into the game and although Warren Za\u00efre-Emery was inches away from equalising, Sch\u00e4r very nearly doubled Newcastle\u2019s advantage after directing Almir\u00f3n\u2019s cut-back fractionally wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now it was raining steadily and PSG looked as if they did not quite know what had hit them. When Burn memorably dispossessed Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 courtesy of a thumping tackle, the decibel level suggested the Blyth-born defender might have sealed victory in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burn scored Newcastle\u2019s second goal, heading Guimar\u00e3es\u2019s chip home at high velocity. No matter that Donnarumma\u2019s fingertips eventually scrambled the ball clear it had already clearly crossed the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet doubts remained as to whether Guimar\u00e3es had been offside when he moved to meet Sandro Tonali\u2019s pass and if Jamaal Lascelles had handled. Accordingly a lengthy VAR review ensued before it was determined Marquinhos had played his fellow Brazilian onside and Burn could finally celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite PSG enjoying the bulk of possession Newcastle were not flattered by their lead. Indeed Howe\u2019s biggest worry must have been that, despite much outstanding work, Guimar\u00e3es seemed to be powered by a surfeit of not always entirely healthy emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kylian<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the first half the Brazil midfielder unnecessarily, recklessly, shoved over Manuel Ugarte off the ball after catching the Uruguayan\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news for Howe was that, alongside him, Tonali played with creditable maturity and intelligence. The midfielder helped ensure Newcastle fans found themselves walking in the sort of wonderland rarely experienced since Sir Bobby Robson\u2019s tenure here two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half had barely begun before the unmarked, North Shields-born Longstaff, scored. After connecting with Trippier\u2019s fine diagonal pass he unleashed an angled toe poke which Donnarumma seemed set to parry. Instead the keeper badly misjudged the ball\u2019s flight and watched in horror as it flew into the top corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Lucas Hern\u00e1ndez heading Za\u00efre-Emery\u2019s beautifully dinked delivery past Nick Pope and Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s ultimate relocation from the left wing to centre-forward, Luis Enrique was reduced to waving his arms around in bewildered despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such misery was only compounded when Sch\u00e4r, excellent defensively throughout, curled in a superlative stoppage-time fourth to seal Newcastle\u2019s finest Champions League night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago Sean Longstaff looked to be on his way out at Newcastle and seemed destined for a lower-division future, while Dan Burn could not be certain of a first-team place at Brighton. Few crystal-ball gazers would have predicted that particularly unlikely pair not merely joining Miguel Almir\u00f3n and Fabian Sch\u00e4r in scoring against\u00a0Paris […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":38413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[4231,5522,641,2422,1725,1827,1911,8908,9171,5262,12635,2200,12885,9505,9026,11355,6225,9643,3577,803,9486,9343,10950,3874,8873,12791,9833,10481,12187,1717,496,7964,11973,1253,1721,7296,642,7963,10939,8160,1364,7419,11494,10885,10415,36,594,7898],"class_list":["post-38412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-ama","tag-arms","tag-barcelona","tag-brazil","tag-brazilian","tag-brighton","tag-champions-league","tag-coach","tag-crowd","tag-cut","tag-delivery","tag-donnarumma","tag-eddie-howe","tag-european","tag-fans","tag-flight","tag-friends","tag-fund","tag-future","tag-goalkeeper","tag-horror","tag-investment","tag-kieran-trippier","tag-lead","tag-luis-enrique","tag-manager","tag-meeting","tag-midfield","tag-n","tag-newcastle","tag-newcastle-united","tag-north","tag-one","tag-paris","tag-paris-saint-germain","tag-pope","tag-psg","tag-saint","tag-san-siro","tag-saudi","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-the-game","tag-ugarte","tag-victory","tag-work","tag-world","tag-who","tag-xi"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38414,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38412\/revisions\/38414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}