Kylian Mbappe snatched a famous Champions League victory from Newcastle’s grasp with a controversial penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage-time to earn Paris St Germain a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes.
Defender Tino Livramento was harshly adjudged to have handled Ousmane Dembele’s cross to allow the France superstar to finally beat goalkeeper Nick Pope from the spot on a night when Eddie Howe’s men came within seconds of a win which would have set them up perfectly for their final Group F fixture against AC Milan at St James’ Park.
They led through Alexander Isak’s 24th-minute strike and looked to have survived a second-half onslaught with Pope saving from Mbappe, Dembele and substitute Bradley Barcola, but they headed back to Tyneside wondering what might have been after the draw kept their hopes of a place in the last 16 alive, but only just.
Victory over the Italians combined with defeat for PSG at Borussia Dortmund, who have already qualified, would see the dream realised, but their fate is now out of their own hands.
That is harsh on Howe’s injury-ravaged squad, who turned in a performance of real character in Paris with Bruno Guimaraes Livramento, Pope, Miguel Almiron and – as the game became increasingly stretched – Anthony Gordon shining in particular.
Mbappe started in ominous mood as he and Lee Kang-in combined repeatedly down the left and Pope had to save the PSG skipper’s audacious flick with his feet after Randal Kolo Muani had played full-back Achraf Hakimi into space with an equally deft touch.
However, the visitors should have taken a 12th-minute lead when Almiron dispossessed Hakimi and crossed low to Isak at the near post only to see the striker lift his first-time shot agonisingly over.
They did with 24 minutes gone when full-back Livramento embarked on a scything run which took him past Dembele, Hakimi, Fabian Ruiz, Milan Skriniar, Manuel Ugarte and Lee before he fed Almiron on the right.
The Paraguay international curled a shot towards the far post, where goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma could only push the ball out to Isak, who gleefully slammed it into the net.
Pope had to come to Isak’s rescue after he lost possession and Dembele raced away and tried to steer the ball inside the far post as PSG responded, but for all their attacking flair, the French side were struggling to break down their English opponents.
Skriniar was perhaps fortunate not to be penalised for handball as he made a last-ditch attempt to deny Isak a clear run on goal in stoppage-time, but Pope was grateful for the sizeable presence of Fabian Schar in front of him to keep out Dembele’s well-struck attempt from Mbappe’s cross.
Isak was almost through on goal again within seconds of the restart after running on to Joelinton’s defence-splitting pass before eventually being snuffed out by the recovering blue shirts and, with Anthony Gordon keeping the PSG defence occupied, frustration was mounting among the home ranks.
They might have been back in it, however, had Pope not raced from his line to block Dembele’s 56th-minute toe-poke and the keeper was rewarded when Mbappe completely missed his as he attempted to acrobatically volley home the rebound.
The Magpies edged ever deeper as Luis Enrique’s men fought desperately for a way back into the game and they almost got it with 66 minutes gone when Mbappe tricked his way past Schar and crossed for Barcola, whose point-blank effort was brilliantly saved by Pope.
Barcola fired wastefully into the side-netting after getting in behind the visitors’ defence and Gordon survived a VAR review for a penalty after Hakimi had gone down under his challenge with Newcastle visibly tiring.
Pope blocked Mbappe’s 87th-minute strike at his near post and saw the France international thump the rebound inches wide, but he was finally beaten at the death after Polish referee Szymon Marciniak had reviewed the incident in which Dembele’s cross appeared to hit Livramento’s side and loop up on to the underside of his arm and belatedly awarded a spot-kick.
'I have nothing against him' - Leao brushes off rumours of feud with Fonseca
Rafael Leao has shrugged off suggestions of a feud between him and Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca despite starting fewer games in recent weeks.
The winger started three consecutive Serie A matches on the bench after the last international break, coming on to make substitute appearances in two of those.
He returned to the starting line-up for their 3-3 draw with Cagliari last time out, netting twice in the first half to bring his tally up to three goals for the season, and 50 overall in Serie A.
Leao has also provided three assists in the Italian top-flight, while he has both attempted (36) and completed (24) the most dribbles of any Milan player in the competition.
There were reports of tension between Leao and Fonseca due to the former's lack of playing time in recent weeks, but he brushed off the idea.
"These things happen during the season, I have nothing against him, and he has nothing against me," Leao said while at Portugal's training ground.
"It's all settled. I don't like being on the bench, obviously, but he makes the decisions and I, as a player, have to respect the coach.
"When I step onto the pitch, I have to do my best to help the team."
Leao has also impressed with performances in the Champions League this season, especially against Real Madrid in a 3-1 win, as he registered an assist for their third goal.
However, he has also come under criticism in Italy, with one pundit claiming he has a poor work ethic, suggesting he only puts in effort in big games.
"Clearly, I do not agree with that," Leao added about the recent comments.
"I have been having a great season at Milan but, like everyone else, there are ups and downs. The campaign has only just started. Look, I know that I am not the perfect player and sometimes I can do much better.
"I am not shaken by this criticism. I have people who help me to improve and those are the ones I have to listen to. This criticism just spurs me on to respond on the pitch."
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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