A rampant Newcastle United put in a stellar showing to secure a superb 4-1 victory over French champions Paris St Germain in their first Champions League home match in 20 years last night.
In a red-hot atmosphere in the north east, PSG had no answer to the relentless hosts who raced into a 17th-minute lead through Miguel Almiron, before Dan Burn powered home a header six minutes before the break to double Newcastle’s advantage.
The crowd ensured there was no let-up after the break, with Sean Longstaff drilling a third under the arm of Gianluigi Donnarumma in the PSG goal five minutes into the second half to send the Newcastle fans into dreamland.
A goal out of nowhere from Lucas Hernandez got the visitors back in it, before a stoppage-time fourth from defender Fabian Schar capped a stunning victory that moved Newcastle top of Group F on four points, one clear of PSG in second.
PSG suffered their heaviest group-stage defeat in the Champions League since losing 3-0 against Chelsea in September 2004, and conceded four in a single group game in the competition for the first time since a 3-4 defeat to Deportivo La Coruna in March 2001.
PSG travelled to Newcastle having struggled to get going domestically in Ligue 1 this term while boasting a disappointing record of five defeats in their previous seven clashes with English teams in the Champions League.
That run always looked like extending as the French champions were second best from the off, unable to muster a single shot on target in the opening period -- the first time they had done so in the first half of a Champions League group-stage match since November 2013.
With the crowd cheering every tackle in the sodden conditions, and some players following suit, Newcastle slowly grew into the game, with Almiron becoming their first goalscorer in the competition since Premier League all-time top goalscorer Alan Shearer to lift the roof off St James’ Park.
Donnarumma was forced into several fine stops before he could do nothing to keep out Burn’s bullet header, a goal awarded after a lengthy VAR review.
Longstaff’s strike, one that Donnarumma should really have kept out having got down, took Newcastle to within sight of a famous win, before Hernandez glanced Warren Zaire-Emery’s cross home to threaten a PSG comeback.
Other than a Nick Pope save to beat out a Ousmane Dembele strike, PSG rarely troubled the Newcastle goal, with Schar’s superb strike from distance the icing on the cake for the jubilant hosts.
In the group’s other contest last night, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan played out a 0-0 draw in Germany, Milan’s second stalemate in their opening two Champions League matches this season.
Meanwhile, holders Manchester City struck twice in the final minutes through Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku to beat hosts RB Leipzig 3-1 and rebound from successive domestic defeats to take control of Group G with maximum points.
Alvarez curled his shot from the edge of the box into the top corner in the 84th minute and then set up Doku in stoppage time for their third goal as City moved up to six points from two games in top spot.
Substitute Ferran Torres scored to give Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 win at Porto in their Group H clash, with the Spanish side finishing with 10 men after Gavi got a second yellow card for a foul in added time.
Lazio pulled off a last-gasp 2-1 away victory over Celtic thanks to an added-time Pedro Rodriguez header in a pulsating Group E match.
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