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Blood, sweat and tears of joy at half-time after United obtained in the faces of their worthy-vaunted opponents from the first whistle and by no means flagged on the way to a totally justified 2-0 lead.
PSG are Champions League veterans nevertheless they can rarely, if ever, have faced opponents so definite to press, press and press again.
Donnnarumma, who looked almost unbeatable against England in the 2021 Euro Championship final, did effectively to parry Isak’s low shot to his upright in the 17th minute, nevertheless succeeded only in pushing the ball back across goal. The PSG defenders and keeper had clearly failed to conclude their homework because, when they shaped to dam what looked certain to be a upright-foot be aware-up, Miggy Stardust did what he nearly always does and slammed the ball house with his trusty left. Earn in!!!!
Am I in dreamland? Waving my 2003 half-and-half Inter v NUFC scarf, I believed of that match more than 20 years ago and yelled in pride.
We wished a second whereas on prime and nearly scored it from a cleverly worked Trippier nook when Schar hit a first-time belter only inches huge of Donnarumma’s left put up.
We were no longer to be denied and scored again on 39 minutes after sustained stress.
Bruno G tried a low upright-foot shot from an acute angle that again Donnarumma may only parry. When the ball was returned to our influential Brazilian, he minimize out the keeper with an exquisite lofted atrocious to the far put up with his left foot and Burn was the only winner as he burst between two defenders to energy house a towering header. I’ve rarely viewed a higher example of why the simplest footballers are two-footed.
Luis Enrique was clearly flustered on the touchline. His team had amassed precisely no photographs on target, we already had 5 and looked the more seemingly to glean again.
Five minutes after the interval we did, when Trippier played in Longstaff on the upright edge of the box and he smashed a low upright-footer to the keeper’s upright from 15 yards. Donnnarumma reached it nevertheless the shot was too extremely effective and squirmed into the gather.
Three-nil and 50,000 Mags (inside SJP) screamed in pride.
PSG , who in contemporary years have splashed the Qatari cash to aquire the largest stars, had to respond and they did, scoring with their first effort on target six minutes later, nevertheless we dug deep and did our simplest to stifle them with more tireless running and definite tackles.
The game ebbed and flowed, with a fifth goal wanting crucial. Dembele examined Pope with a half-volley thunderbolt as the visitors sought a second, an unmarked Mbappe was inches from reaching a low atrocious from the upright and the tension was palpable. For the first time we felt beneath siege, happy to hoof the ball into contact occasionally to alleviate the stress.
Anderson and Murphy replaced Tonali and Almiron, PSG also brought on two subs, nevertheless we held out with renewed determination.
United level-headed carried a threat on the break and when Schar won the ball fantastically in the PSG half as the game entered stoppage time, he played a ideal one-two with Murphy and this time whipped a first-time screamer to the left of Donarumma’s despairing stout-length dive.
Job done! As Keats wrote at the start of Endymion: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
Now, bring on the Germans!
Borussia Dortmund may be more familiar with gegenpressing than their French rivals nevertheless they will no longer fancy their drag back and forth to fortress St James’.
Stats from BBC Sport:
Newcastle 4 PSG 1 – Wednesday 4 October 8pm
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Almiron 17, Burn 39, Longstaff 50, Schar 90+1
PSG:
Hernandez 56
(Half-time stats in brackets)
Possession was PSG 73% (69%) Newcastle 27% (31%)
Total photographs were PSG 11 (4) Newcastle 12 (8)
Images on target were PSG 2 (0) Newcastle 8 (4)
Corners were PSG 8 (4) Newcastle 1 (1)
Newcastle United:
Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Burn, Longstaff, Bruno, Tonali (Anderson 65), Almiron (Murphy 71), Isak, Gordon (Targett 90+3)
UNUSED SUBS:
Dubravka, Karius, Dummett, Hall, Livramento, L.Miley
(Newcastle 4 PSG 1 – Instant NUFC fan / author reaction – Read HERE)
(Newcastle 4 PSG 1 – Champions League, we’re having a laugh! Read HERE)
(Newcastle 4 PSG 1 – Very provocative unbiased ratings on the NUFC players – Read HERE)