LONDON: Newcastle had been waiting 20 years for a night like this and it was worth the wait for 50,000 Geordies as the Magpies blew away Paris St Germain 4-1 to announce their arrival as a Champions League threat.

The first ever meeting between the clubs in the famously atmospheric St. James’ Park pitted the sporting interests of Saudi Arabia up against Qatar.

Saudi emerged victorious and in some style as Newcastle’s rapid rise less than two years since the Gulf Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund took control of the club shows no signs of stopping.

Newcastle have raced to the top of the tough Group ‘F’ where seven-time European champion AC Milan drew 0-0 at Borussia Dortmund, the 1997 title winners.

“You can’t knock it. It’s a very special moment for New­ca­stle,” coach Eddie Howe said.

Manchester City further restored Premier League pride one day after Arsenal and Manchester United both lost their games in the second round of the group stage.

City won 3-1 at Leipzig and the Abu Dhabi-backed defending champions already look comfortable atop the Group ‘G’ standings with lower-ranked Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys drawing 2-2.

Elsewhere in Europe’s elite club competition Barcelona also earned a second straight win, 1-0 at Porto in Xavi Her­na­ndez’s 100th game as coach.

Lazio scored a stoppage-time winning goal at Celtic in a 2-1 victory to join Atletico Madrid on four points in Group ‘E’. Atletico trailed twice before outlasting Feyenoord in a 3-2 win.

Shakhtar Donetsk also won 3-2 after trailing at Royal Antwerp, who wasted a 2-0 lead at halftime and missed a penalty in stoppage time.

TIKI-TAKA EXPOSED

While PSG have had a clear playing style this season, the French champions looked completely lost when it came to dealing with Newcastle’s high-intensity pressing.

The result left star-studded PSG with three points from two games, and with questions to answer about their character and lack of a ‘Plan B’.

PSG started with an extremely offensive system — Manuel Ugarte and Warren Zaire-Emery the only two proper midfielders behind the attacking quartet of Kylian Mbappe, Goncalo Ramos, Ousmane Dembele and Randall Kolo Muani.

They could not handle Newcastle’s fury and were quickly overwhelmed as Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schaer all scored to inflict on the French club their heaviest Champions League group-stage loss since the Qatari takeover of 2011

“They put us in difficulty in the midfield, yes, where we were outnumbered. It was not easy,” said defender Lucas Hernandez, who scored PSG’s goal in the second half.

Not for the first time in the Champions League, PSG’s individuals were outthought and outfought by a greater collective unit.

Newcastle’s new era appeared to have been given a Champions League baptism of fire with last season’s semi-finalists Milan and Dortmund also in the toughest section of the draw.

But Howe’s men are top the group after two games. The hope on Tyneside is that this is just the start of a journey towards one day winning the Champions League.

HARDEST TEST

Reigning champions City are well on course to qualify for the knockout stages after successfully negotiating their hardest test in Group ‘G’ to beat Leipzig away.

A tight game at Leipzig was settled by late goals from substitutes Julián Álvarez and Jérémy Doku, who each assisted the other. Erling Haaland was again kept quiet while Phil Foden had given City the lead in the first half.

Barca celebrated a landmark night for Xavi with victory away to Porto in Portugal in what was on paper their tou­ghest assignment in Group ‘H’.

Ferran Torres scored the only goal as Lamine Yamal became the youngest ever starter in a Champions League match at the age of 16 years and 83 days.

Celtic suffered a second straight defeat in Group ‘E’ after Pedro Rodriguez’s 95th-minute strike gave Lazio victory in Glasgow. In the same group, Atletico enjoyed a vib­rant victory against Feyenoord after twice trailing. Alvaro Morata scored two goals either side of one for Antoine Griezmann.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023