It’s crunch time for in the Champions League for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United as we travel to the Parc des Princes for perhaps the biggest night in our European history.
It’s a straight shootout with the reigning and defending Champions: the winner will progress to the last 16, whilst the loser will almost certainly find themselves in the play-offs.
Champions League nights simply don’t get bigger than this, as we have the opportunity to exact a manner of revenge on PSG after that controversial 1-1 draw from two years ago.
Here’s how the teams lineup on a cold night in the French capital:
Confirmed team sheets
Newcastle XI: Pope – Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Hall – Ramsey, Willock, Tonali – Woltemade, Elanga
Subs: Ramsdale, Harris, Trippier, Wissa, Gordon, Barnes, Osula, A.Murphy, Guimaraes, Shahar
PSG XI: Safonov – Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes – Neves, Vitinha, Zaire-Emery – Barcola, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia
Eddie Howe has made five changes from Sunday’s game against Aston Villa, with Dan Burn returning to the starting XI for the first time since the Tyne-Wear derby.
Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman retain their places in the defence, with Howe going for a tried-and-tested defensive plan that has worked wonders in the past against the likes of Arsenal in last season’s Carabao Cup.
It remains to be seen if Anthony Elanga is starting out wide or as part of a two man partnership with Nick Woltemade, but the options of Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Will Osula is very welcome.
Bruno Guimaraes is fit enough to make the bench after he missed Sunday’s game due to injury: Jacob Murphy meanwhile travelled with the squad to Paris, but hasn’t made the squad tonight.
Meanwhile the hosts have been bolstered by the returns of Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves to the starting XI, with Warren Zaire-Emery moving back into the midfield.
The Ballon D’or winner Ousmane Dembele leads the line once again, with Fabian Ruiz the biggest notable absentee due to injury. Luis Enrique has made a bold call between the sticks however, with Matvei Safonov starting over Lucas Chevalier.
We head to Paris as the underdogs, but we’ve shown before that we can cause an upset against tonight’s opponents. Here’s hoping for another monumental win over PSG – Howay The Lads!
Even if we were playing full throttle we would be up against it tonight.
But with Newcastle you never know how good or bad we will be.
I think a back 5 is the best chance we have under the circumstances.
HWTL
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Danielle Skiles(Quote)
A draw with the defending champion is acceptable!
Cool Games(Quote)
Starting Burn feels like Howe going all-in on grit and discipline, it’s a brave, old-school call for a night that’ll be more about nerve than flair. Bruno on the bench hurts, but if we’re still in it late on, that could be a game-changing Slope ace to throw.
Ernest Walters(Quote)