PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain and Kylian Mbappe were left holding a ticket to the Champions League knockout round on Wedn­esday after a tense finish to the tightest group saw Newcastle United let their chance slip.

Porto also earned their place in the round of 16 draw on Monday with a 5-3 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk, who needed to win to advance.

PSG’s 1-1 draw at Group ‘F’ winners Borussia Dortmund — earned by 17-year-old Warren Zaire-Em­ery’s 56th-minute leveller — was enough to secure second place because Newcastle lost 2-1 at home to AC Milan.

“We are still alive,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique, whose unsee­ded team can now be drawn to face Manchester City, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. “No team will hope to play us in the next round.”

Newcastle were in the box seat kicking off the second half with a one-goal lead but ended in last place without even the consolation prize of entering the second-tier Europa League as third-placed finishers.

That reward flipped to Milan when they took the lead in the 84th as substitute Samuel Chukwueze raced clear to score one minute after coming on from the bench. Milan had levelled in the 59th on United States playmaker Christian Pulisic’s goal.

Newcastle joined Manchester United in losing at home — United on Tuesday — to finish bottom of a group and give England their weakest round of 16 challenge for 11 years: just defending champions City and Arsenal are in the draw on Monday.

“We are absolutely devastated not to go through,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said.

The 16-team lineup was completed by Porto, who finished runners-up in Group ‘H’ to Barcelona though the Spanish champions lost 3-2 at Royal Antwerp.

Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win over Lazio ensured they would finish top of Group ‘E’ and be seeded in Monday’s draw. Lazio had already advanced before the final round of games. Last-placed Celtic got a stoppage-time goal to beat Feyenoord 2-1.

City sent out a team of few regular starters — including former ball boy Micah Hamilton who scored on his debut — to win 3-2 at Red Star Belgrade and ensure the defending champions completed a six-win programme atop Group ‘G’.

In the other group game that also did not affect the final standings, RB Leipzig beat Young Boys 2-1.

French champions PSG, in danger of a first group stage exit since the Qatari takeover in 2011, fell behind when Karim Adeyemi swept home from close range early in the second half in Germany.

Zaire-Emery came to the rescue for PSG five minutes later after Mbappe weaved into the box, his pass deflected out to the teenager who advanced towards goal before slamming home a powerful shot.

Mbappe, whose PSG future will again come into sharp focus in January, had an effort ruled out for offside but the point was enough in the end for the visitors, who finished level on points with Milan but progressed thanks to a better head-to-head goal difference. “We’re far from the finished article,” said PSG captain Marquinhos. “We’re going to have to prepare well and prepare better because bigger opponents are on the way.”

At St James’ Park, Newcastle started the brighter of the two sides and made their first-half pressure count when Joelinton rifled a superb strike past Mike Maignan and into the top corner to give them the lead at the break.

But Milan shifted into the gear in the second period and found an equaliser through Pulisic before Chukwueze broke Newcastle hearts when he curled home from inside the area.

“We gave everything to the match. I can’t ask for anything more (in terms of) commitment, effort, physical exertion. Unfor­tun­ately for us it wasn’t to be,” said Howe.

Porto only needed to avoid def­eat at the Estadio do Dragao to progress from Group ‘H’ with Barca, and hit the front in the ninth minute when Galeno opened the scoring.

Danylo Sikan hauled Shakhtar level but Galeno netted again bef­ore the Portuguese side doubled their advantage when Mehdi Tar­e­mi lashed into the roof of the net.

An own goal gave Shakhtar a lifeline but 40-year-old Pepe eased Porto nerves with his team’s fourth and Francisco Conceicao then put the game to bed, with Eguinaldo bagging a late consolation.

“In Porto, we never play for a draw, even though that result also suited us. The manager said this match would be like a final and we had to win.

Mission accomplished,” Galeno told CNN Portugal.

Antwerp claimed a famous win over Barca as George Ilenikhena netted a stoppage-time winner.

The Belgians twice led courtesy of goals from Arthur Vermeeren and Vincent Janssen but Barcelona replied through Ferran Torres and Marc Guiu, who looked to have salvaged a draw before Ilenikhena’s heroics.

City became just the second Eng­lish club to win all six group stage games with victory at Red Star.

Twenty-year-old Micah Hami­lton and Oscar Bobb scored their first goals for the club before Hwang In-beom pulled a goal back for the Serbian champions.

Kalvin Phillips scored his first City goal with a late penalty as Aleksandar Katai struck a consolation for Red Star in added time.

Benjamin Sesko and Emil Forsberg struck twice in five second-half minutes to earn already qualified Leipzig victory at home to Switzerland’s Young Boys. Ebrima Colley briefly levelled for the Swiss outfit.

Strikes from Antoine Griez­mann and Samuel Lino sealed first place for Atletico in Group ‘E’, where Celtic ended a 15-game winless streak in the group stage with Gustaf Lagerbielke’s late header.

Luis Palma’s first-half penalty put the Scots on top but their barren run looked destined to continue when Yankuba Minteh levelled with eight minutes left. However, Celtic snatched the win in stoppage time when Lagerbielke nodded in from close range.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023