A devastating night for Newcastle United, who exit Europe altogether on a night that started so well but ended in disaster.
We were heading into the last 16 after Joelinton’s early strike sent us 1-0 up as PSG were drawing in Dortmund and in control of the game for large parts, yet two second-half goals for AC Milan, some naive defending and poor game management meant we missed out on the Europa League.
Impossible not to be bitterly disappointed, but I’m proud of these players, grateful for how far we’ve come and confident we’ll come back stronger from this, as hard as it is to take right now.
Howe made just one change from Sunday, seeing Callum Wilson replace Alexander Isak up top. Martin Dubravka passed a late fitness test and Dan Burn was back on the bench that also featured a fit-again Sean Longstaff, Lewis Hall and Loris Karius.
It was Lewis Miley’s sixth start in 18 says – a huge show of faith from Howe once again – and AC Milan danger man Rafa Leao returned for the visitors after causing chaos when we met at the San Siro.
A tribute to the late great Sir Bobby appeared in the Gallowgate End just moments before the players entered the pitch. “There’s only one Bobby Robson” belted around a packed out St James’ full of black and white flags, scarfs and hopes the right two results would fall in our favour.
We made a good start without scoring or really threatening Milan stopper Mike Maignan, until Fikayo Tomori denied Miggy a certain tap in with an unbelievable last-ditch tackle on the line. It looked a goal until the former Chelsea centre-back somehow intercepted Joelinton’s scuffed effort. Saying that, I think Almiron scores easily if he had faith in his right foot…
Trippier was winning his battle against Leao and we were dominating the ball. You could sense some anxiety in the crowd, but any early jitters were eased when Joelinton smashed a brilliant strike into the far corner. The assist? Lewis Miley, who became the youngest ever Englishman to assist a UEFA Champions League goal at the age of 17. What a story, both for our former ‘£40m flop’ and our local lad living his dream.
We got into the break one up, with PSG still level in Dortmund heading into one of the biggest second halves of football many of us have experienced. We had to hold on and hope PSG didn’t beat a Dortmund side who’d only lost at home twice in 2023.
Sadly, it was us who threw it away as Dortmund saw out a 1-1 draw with PSG, but it could’ve been so so different had Maignan not pulled off a stunning fingertip save to push Bruno’s edge of the box effort onto the woodwork, with this coming just 10 minutes after Pulisic drew Milan level with their first shot on target.
With 20 minutes to play and the scores now level, we were still just one moment away from edging back above PSG and making the last 16. Isak, Longstaff an Burn all came on, replacing a knackered Gordon, injured Trippier and impressive Miley, but we gave Milan too much space on the counter and were punished by Chukwueze, who slotted past Dubravka to make it 2-1.
We pushed for an equaliser but ran out of steam, looking like a side who knew they’d blown it as Milan sat deep and frustrated us for the final 10 minutes. From a commanding position and in control of our European fate, to bowing out altogether in the space of 31 minutes – it’s a real bitter pill to swallow. The group of death decided at the death.
Proud of this team for giving it a go and remaining competitive in such a difficult group, just gutted we came up short on a night that could’ve been so different.
Lessons to learn on a really tough night on Tyneside. We’ll be back stronger.
Nice to see a good positive review on what has been an almost miraculous run from a team, that was depleted and knackered, with returning players lacking match fitness
The game was a joy to watch but the most enjoyable moment for me was the immediate reaction from Joelinton when he scored.
Such a matter fact, “and that’s where that’s going” kind of thing.
Well done lads, you deserve a bit of a break!
Archie Brand(Quote)
Very proud of the team, not so happy with this site, issues still not fixed
kimtoon(Quote)
Despite the disappointment and I’m very disappointed to see nufc out of Europe, I enjoyed the ups and downs of the CL games.
In Dortmund, psg and Milan, nufc have come up against three very smart teams and coaches who have euro experience embedded in their clubs and came up short.
Not too surprising at this stage of development and nufc showed enough to be optimistic they’ll continue to improve while not shying away from deficiencies in current players, tactics and mentality at CL level.
It’d be nice if the fan base can step back and see this is still a club transitioning towsrds the success we all want for the club. The players, coaches and board are still very smart and motivated enough to continue their approach which has brought the club so far so very quickly.
I’m not going to pick over the bones of last night as it’s pointless. All the things I considered that left this a long shot to begin with were there to see over the games and I always saw this as more of an experience builder than a genuine chance to go deep.
That said, I really cannot understand the narrative that going out of Europe is a good thing. It isn’t, as it deprives this team of opportunities to go against elite or even very good euro opposition.
On we go
HTL
No problems for me with the site
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
I was really disappointed & frustrated last night.
I understand people saying we don’t need the added demands of Europa football – but as a team in transition, it’s all experience & learning that we don’t get without playing in Europe.
What annoyed me last night was it felt like CL or nothing – in fact that’s exactly what it was.
We had the chance of knocking out last years CL semi finalists & finishing a respectable 3rd in the group of death.
If once in the Europa Cup we decided we didn’t want to pursue things in that tournament, then play a lesser team then – but win first!!.
We went from the Newcastle that beat PSG 4-1 in that first half last night, to the Newcastle that got beat 4-1 off Spurs.
It was really poor game management last night & regardless of how much I back Howe & the players – and I genuinely do!! I still think we were very naive last night & have missed an opportunity to gain some experience that may not come round often.
Sharpy17(Quote)