Geordies Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff both scored to help Newcastle put Paris St Germain to the sword as Champions League football returned to Tyneside with a bang.
More than two decades since the Magpies last played in the competition, they rekindled memories of their first ever outing, a 3-2 victory over Barcelona in 1997, by thumping the French champions 4-1 in front of a crowd of 52,009 at a delirious St James’ Park.
Miguel Almiron set the ball rolling with the club’s first Champions League goal since Alan Shearer’s double at Inter Milan in March 2003, but it was local boys Burn and Longstaff who put the Group F fixture beyond Luis Enrique’s side before Fabian Schar smashed home a superb fourth to secure three points to go with the one with which they had returned from AC Milan a fortnight earlier.
PSG, whose owners Qatar Sports Investments have poured so much money into an as yet unrequited quest for European glory, simply did not cope with the home side’s high press before the break and failed to utilise fully the inestimable talents of Kylian Mbappe and company even after Lucas Hernandez had given them a glimmer of hope.
The game kicked off amid a cacophony and the volume only rose as the industry of Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon caused problems for keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and defender Marquinhos early on.
However, it was the visitors who went agonisingly close to taking the lead with just five minutes gone when 17-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery broke from his own half and fed Mbappe, whose cross was volleyed inches wide by Ousmane Dembele with Nick Pope helpless.
Achraf Hakimi was relieved to see Almiron fire over from distance after intercepting his loose pass seconds later, but Newcastle went ahead with 17 minutes gone after the Frenchmen once again shot themselves in the foot.
Bruno Guimaraes got his head to Marquinhos’ poor clearance and although Donnarumma made a superb reaction save after Isak had spun and fired towards goal, Almiron pounced on the rebound to open the scoring with his third goal in as many starts.
PSG responded in determined fashion and Goncalo Ramos saw his effort deflected out for a corner seconds after Schar had whipped a first-time shot inches wide of Donnarumma’s left post from Kieran Trippier’s intelligent corner.
Isak was left bloodied after a clash of heads with Hernandez, but was able to carry on after having the wound bandaged and a change of shirt, and his side’s fortunes took a significant turn for the better six minutes before the break.
The Paris defence failed to deal with Trippier’s free-kick and Donnarumma clawed the ball out of his top corner and then saved at his near post as shots rained in, but although the keeper also managed to get a hand to Burn’s header after he climbed high to meet the excellent Guimaraes’ cross, the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line after a lengthy VAR review.
PSG returned knowing a sizeable improvement was required, but they fell further behind within five minutes when Almiron’s pace and the precision of Trippier’s pass to Longstaff allowed the midfielder to drill a shot towards Donnarumma’s near post, where the Italian could only help the ball into his own net.
They grabbed a lifeline with 56 minutes gone when Hernandez timed his run to perfection to glance Zaire-Emery’s lofted ball beyond Pope and instantly looked a more dangerous proposition with Mbappe, Dembele and substitutes Bradley Barcola and Vitinha injecting much-needed vigour.
But all too often, they lacked the precision to hurt their hosts and when they did create meaningful openings, as they did when Dembele span and fired towards goal with 13 minutes remaining, they found Pope in indomitable form.
Mbappe blasted impotently wide with five minutes remaining to the delight of the home crowd, who were on their feet once again in stoppage time after Schar had thumped a shot high past Donnarumma and into the top corner.
Postecoglou: Spurs have a confidence problem to overcome
Ange Postecoglou says that Tottenham need to "overcome" their low confidence after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs slipped to their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, being left to bemoan their slow start as they found themselves 4-0 down by the hour mark thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
Richarlison came off the bench to salvage some pride for Spurs, scoring one before setting up Son Heung-min for a goal on his 300th Premier League appearance.
Spurs had the opportunity to cut the gap to the top four after Aston Villa’s defeat to Brighton, but they remain seven points off a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou’s side still have a game in hand over the Villans, though he was sure that Spurs would be able to put their recent poor run behind them.
Asked if Spurs had a confidence problem, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Maybe in the front third there is.
"It probably is a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that's something the guys have to work through.
"You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don't put pressure on the opposition in the front third after you've worked your way up there, they're going to get comfortable with their position."
Spurs have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games, failing to win any of the last five.
Despite that run extending at Anfield, Postecoglou highlighted what he thought was an improvement on their recent performances.
He continued: "Obviously a hugely disappointing outcome for us but at least we were more like ourselves today in terms of our football.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea, apart from the results which weren't great either, we just didn't try and play our football.
"I thought today, even in the first half, some of our football, our pressing was back to where it should be."
Roma 1-1 Juventus: Juve miss chance to close gap to second after draw with Roma
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Roma on Sunday, missing the chance to close in on Milan in second place in Serie A.
Roma took the lead after 15 minutes when Romelu Lukaku found himself in the perfect position to tap in the rebound from a Bryan Cristante shot.
Bremer levelled with a header for Juventus just after the half-hour mark when Federico Chiesa picked him out inside the box from a corner.
Both sides had chances to find a winner in the final minutes, with Roma keeper Mile Svilar making a fingertip save to push Manuel Locatelli's volley over the bar.
Third-placed Juventus have 66 points, five fewer than Milan, who drew 3-3 with Genoa earlier on Sunday. Roma are fifth with 60 points.
Data Debrief: Leading from the back
Since scoring his first Serie A goal in the 2019-20 season, Bremer is the defender with the most headed goals in the Big-5 European leagues, netting 13 in total. Each of his last seven goals have been headers.
His goal was enough to earn Juventus a point today, but it means that they have drawn each of their last four in the competition - a first since February-March 2012 under Antonio Conte.
Chelsea 8-0 Bristol City: Blues rout hands Hayes perfect home send off
Guro Reiten starred as Chelsea thrashed already-relegated Bristol City 8-0 to keep their title hopes alive in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
The Norwegian scored four goals, netting the opener from the penalty spot to get Emma Hayes' last home game in charge off to the best start.
She scored the other three in the second half in just over 20 minutes, while teeing up Agnes Beever-Jones for the seventh goal with just two minutes left.
Beever-Jones got two, with Sjoeke Nusken and Niamh Charles also adding to the scoreline to eradicate the goal-difference advantage that Manchester City, who lost to Arsenal earlier on Sunday, had over them.
Chelsea move to within three points of the Citizens, with a game in hand over them, remaining in the fight to lift their fifth-consecutive league title.
Data Debrief:
Chelsea have scored eight goals in a game for the first time since December 2022 against Leicester City, a match they also won 8-0.
The Blues have scored in their last six games in the WSL, though it does not come close to their longest run of games with a goal in the competition - a run of 20 from April 2023 to February 2024.
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