Newcastle 1-2 AC Milan: Eddie Howe’s Magpies are OUT of Europe despite defiant display against Italian side at a raucous St James’ Park – as PSG qualify for next round of Champions League by the skin of their teeth

• Joelinton’s wonder strike in the first half was cancelled out by a Pulisic goal
• An 84th minute goal from Chukwueze confirmed AC Milan’s Europa League spot 
• Back off Erik ten Hag! Insipid Man United performances are on the players – not the manager – Listen to why on It’s All Kicking Off 

A couple of hours before kick-off, small groups of fans walked across the Swing Bridge over the River Tyne, where Kieron Dyer crashed his red Ferrari 20 years ago, the last time Newcastle United were big in Europe, and began the climb up the steep slope towards their cathedral on the hill.

European royalty was in town again and the streets were already thronged with expectant fans, who did not notice the chill of the winter’s night or the rain in the air. This was an evening for a new generation and a new era for the club, a club which, backed by the wealth of Saudi Arabia, is not an underdog any more.

‘It’s Not Beyond Our Wildest Dreams,’ a giant flag unfurled in the Gallowgate End before kick-off read, ‘Because We Did Have Wild Dreams.’ And for much of the game, it felt as if those wild, wild dreams were coming closer to reality.

For much of the game, as Newcastle led AC Milan, it seemed as if Eddie Howe’s team was heading for the last 16 of the Champions League alongside European aristocracy like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and the new kings of the competition, Manchester City.

But then, after Joelinton’s sumptuous first half strike, Milan rediscovered their poise, equalised through Christian Pulisic and got a winner through Samuel Chukwueze and suddenly it did not matter what was happening in the match between Borussia Dortmund and PSG.

Newcastle battled hard and were excellent for periods but they are now out of Europe

For much of the game it seemed as if Eddie Howe’s team was heading for the last 16

And suddenly, the wildest dreams seemed a little further away. Defeat meant Newcastle did not even have the consolation prize of a place in the Europa League. Like Manchester United, they had finished bottom of their group, with only win to show for their adventures.

Unlike Erik ten Hag’s team, at least they had a go. Unlike Ten Hag’s team, they are a team on the rise. But for now at least, they will have to wait until they can match the achievements of Dyer and Sir Bobby Robson’s team of two decades ago.

This was the most significant European night for the club since the famous win over Feyenoord under Sir Bobby Robson in November 2002 when a late winner from Craig Bellamy took them through to the Champions League second group phase after they had lost their first three games in the competition.

At home, there have been some momentous European nights, too, not least when Newcastle beat Barcelona here in September 1997 and Faustino Asprilla scored a hat-trick to beat the Catalan giants’ side that featured Rivaldo, Luis Figo and Luis Enrique.

The 4-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the north-east in October ranks alongside those nights because of what it signified to Newcastle supporters after their years in the wilderness under the ownership of Mike Ashley. They acclaimed it here as a resurrection.

It was the same against Milan. The stadium was a cauldron at kick-off. The guttural, visceral roar when Anthony Gordon charged down a clearance from Davide Calabrian in the opening minutes rent the air. Milan seemed unnerved by the occasion. Either that or they generally find it hard to string more than two passes together.

The sound and the fury did not abate and Newcastle should have opened the scoring after 20 minutes. Joelinton did superbly to play the ball across goal so that it beat the dive of Mike Maignan. Miguel Almiron only had to touch the ball to put it in but somehow, he got his feet mixed up and allowed Fikayo Tomori to make a brilliant goal-line tackle that rescued his team.

Soon after that, Milan provided the first indication of possessing the wherewithal to muster any fluency going forward and Newcastle were fortunate that Rafael Leao curled his shot well wide when he found space on the left of the home area.

Newcastle did not even have the consolation prize of a place in the Europa League

After Joelinton’s sumptuous first half strike, Milan rediscovered their poise and attacked

But 12 minutes before half time, Newcastle got the goal their play and their intensity deserved. Gordon, who had been irrepressible, moved forwards and played a pass into Lewis Miley on the edge of the Milan box.

Miley laid it back into the path of Joelinton and when Joelinton took a touch, the ball sat up for him and he crashed a spectacular, rising half-volley high past the despairing dive of Maignan so that it almost burst the Milan net.

Joelinton sprinted over to the touchline to embrace Eddie Howe. It was his first goal in the Champions League since he scored for Hoffenheim against Lyon five years ago. It could scarcely have been a cleaner, more important strike.

Milan were distracted and fitful. They looked like a team that is a distant third in Serie A, a side with players like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic, who struggled to make an impact in the Premier League. When Maignan was booked for dissent at the end of the first half, it reflected Milan’s impotence.

Milan did not get any better at the start of the second half. Former Newcastle great, Chris Waddle, sitting in the back row of the press box, described their performance to that point as ‘absolutely pathetic’. Newcastle were outclassing them.

And then, early in the second half, came the news the stadium had been waiting for: Dortmund had taken the lead against PSG in the Westfalenstadion. Everywhere at St James’ Park, groups of Newcastle fans leapt in the air and hugged each other.

The news that PSG had equalised five minutes later was met less rapturously. And then, out of nothing, just before the hour mark, Milan equalised after some chaotic defending in the Newcastle box.

The ball bounced around the area until it found Olivier Giroud, who conjured a moment of calmness and elegance amid the crowd and played a clever square ball to Pulisic. Pulisic, the personficiation of ordinariness until that point, was composed enough to rifle the ball past Martin Dubravka. The stadium fell quiet.

Milan had come more and more into the game in the second half after a very slow start

Joelinton produced a remarkable strike to send St James’ Park into a frenzy in the first half

Howe made a raft of substitutions. Alexander Isak came on. Dan Burn came on. Midway through the half, Isak cut inside his marker and curled a dipping shot just over the bar. Newcastle were still pressing for the victory.

They thought they had gone back into the lead after 68 minutes when Bruno Guimaraes, their lavishly talented Brazil midfielder, jinked outside his marker on the edge of the Milan box and curled a vicious shot towards the far corner.

It looked like a goal from the moment it left his boot but Maignan flung himself to his left, stuck out his left hand and pushed the ball up and on to the face of the crossbar before it bounced away to safety.

Milan spurned a chance to win the game 12 minutes from time when Leao burst clear of the Newcastle defence and bore down on Dubravka. He clipped his shot past Dubravka but it cannoned off the outside of the right-hand post. Newcastle breathed again.

Milan had come more and more into the game in the second half and now it was their turn to press for the winner as time ran out. Newcastle have had a habit of tiring late in games and it looked as if it was happening again.

That impression was confirmed when Chukwueze grabbed the winner six minutes from the end. Tomori crashed a shot against the post as Milan looked to extend their lead and Newcastle could not find a way back.

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

Your browser does not support iframes.

Source: Read Full Article