Newcastle stuns PSG in front of thunderous home crowd

Newcastle beat PSG on Wednesday evening in the English side’s first Champions League home game in 20 years. The Magpies grabbed an early lead on the night and would not look back. Although PSG has dominated in France, it could not get it done on a rainy night on Tyneside.

The atmosphere at St. James’ Park for the matchup was electric. The loud crowd drowned out the pitchside CBS Sports crew in the moments leading up to the match. The home fans then perhaps reached the apex of their celebrations during the Champions League anthem. Newcastle may have waited two decades for the moment, but the fans were ready.

Hosts take two-goal advantage to the halftime break

With the crowd on their side, the hosts struck first from a goal by Miguel Almiron in the 17th minute of the match. The move began with a careless giveaway from PSG defender Marquinhos. Newcastle pounced and the ball fell straight to Alexander Isak inside the box. The Swede sent a dangerous strike towards goal, but Gianluigi Donnarumma made the initial save. However, Almiron then converted the rebound from close range.

The hosts doubled their lead just a few minutes from halftime after a lengthy VAR review. Dan Burn sent a header narrowly over the goal line, but the score was initially chalked off for Bruno Guimarães being offside. The Brazilian lofted a pass across goal towards Burn for the goal. Nevertheless, VAR intervened and determined that Guimarães was, in fact, onside.

Newcastle adds two second-half goals to finish off PSG

Newcastle quickly added a third goal less than five minutes into the second half. Club captain Kieran Trippier neatly found Sean Longstaff racing towards the PSG box. The youth product then snuck a shot just underneath the diving Donnarumma from a difficult angle. While the Italian shot-stopper had been fantastic in the first half, he will not want to review the Longstaff goal after the match.

The visitors, however, pulled a goal back just six minutes later through a header from defender Lucas Hernandez. 17-year-old sensation Warren Zaire-Emery created the goal with a clever pass over the top of the Newcastle defense. Hernandez was able to stretch his neck out just enough to get a touch on the ball and send it into the back of Nick Pope’s net.

Nevertheless, Fabian Schar added the cherry on top of the cake for Newcastle moments from the full-time whistle. Despite slipping as he took the shot, the defender struck a gorgeous curling effort to make the scoreline 4-1 to the hosts. The ball just narrowly crept inside the post and beyond Donnarumma in goal.

The historic victory takes the Magpies atop Group F of the Champions League at the moment. The group is widely considered the toughest competition in the tournament. Despite the loss, PSG still sits second. AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund are currently third and fourth respectively after a scoreless draw on Wednesday.

PHOTO: IMAGO / Focus Images