LONDON: For their first home game in the Champions League in more than 20 years, Newcastle United will walk out to rousing ovation in their famously noisy stadium on Wednesday.

Exactly two years ago, Newcastle were still in a grim winless run in the Premier League relegation zone.

But having finished fourth in the Premier League last season, Newcastle will show Kylian Mbappe and Paris St Germain the atmosphere 52,000 create inside St James’ Park.

Newcastle vs PSG — their first meeting in European competition — is a clash of nation state sovereign wealth.

The home team is 80 per cent owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and the visitors are wholly owned by Qatar Sports Investments.

Lifted in the Premier League by the Saudi takeover nearly two years ago, Newcastle opened with a goalless draw with AC Milan a fortnight ago.

PSG already have the upper hand in a tough Group ‘F’ after beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 and if they avoid defeat at St James’ Park, Luis Enrique’s team will be well on course to qualify for the knockout stages.

Yet PSG’s revenue, far greater than that of their group rivals, means they shouldn’t be struggling to reach the last 16 and getting beyond this stage has never been the problem anyway in recent years.

The problem has been after that, with the Parisians losing in the last 16 five times in seven seasons.

Appointed in July, Luis Enrique won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015 and his remit is to at least take PSG back into the latter stages while continuing their domestic dominance.

Results so far have been mixed, with Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Clermont meaning they have won only four of eight games in all and leaving them fifth in Ligue 1.

But the former Spain boss is optimistic about his new team’s Champions League chances.

“We are one of the favourites in the fight for the title,” he insisted. “In terms of potential I honestly don’t think any team is better than ours.”

Dotmund need a favorable outcome against Italian giants Milan in the group’s other game as a second defeat could jeopardise their prospects.

Despite assuming the underdog role, the German club’s executives are vocal about their ambition to persevere in the Champions League.

“It’s an important game on home soil you ideally have to win,” said sporting director Sebastian Kehl.

In other action on Wednesday, RB Leipzig host defending champions Manchester City after a crushing 7-0 loss in the second leg of the round of 16 seven months ago to Pep Guardiola’s side.

City opened Group ‘G’ with a 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade two weeks ago but lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League at the weekend, which followed a midweek defeat to Newcastle in the League Cup.

Leipzig managed a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga at the weekend, showcasing their mettle when facing premier teams, and coach Marco Rose was confident “we’ll get our chances” against City.

“We’ll try and do better than we did in Manchester a few months ago, but I have complete trust in the boys that they’re up for it,” he said.

In Group ‘H’, Barcelona visit Porto aiming to make a statement in their trickiest group stage fixture after consecutive premature and humiliating Champions League exits.

Xavi Hernandez’s side, five-time winners of the competition, failed to make it past the group stage last season.

They waltzed past Belgian champions Royal Antwerp with a 5-0 triumph in their opener but Porto, who had a 3-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk two weeks ago, will be a useful barometer of whether Barca are close to the level they want to be.

Also on Wednesday, Celtic are aiming to end a 10-year wait for a Champions League win at home when Lazio visit Parkhead in Group ‘E’.

Feyenoord, the surprise early group leaders after their 2-0 win over Celtic two weeks ago, are away to Atletico Madrid, who drew with Lazio in their opening group game.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2023